Things Left Unsaid
by Corgin
Summary: After months of guarding the Bifröst landing site for any signs of Thor, finally Darcy gets to see something interesting happen. Jane doesn't take too kindly to their newly landed guest, and Darcy just can't seem to figure out what's to hate.
1. An Unwanted Guest

**Things Left Unsaid**

**By: Thessaly Corgin (Corgin)**

**Chapter 1: An Unwanted Guest**

o

"Jane... Jane... Jane... JANE."

Darcy barged through the doors of the research facility and began to frantically look for her boss. Various late night researchers turned around at the loud yelps as she stormed through the corridors. She was no light footed girl and her frantic run was by no means graceful, evoking various smiles and eye rolls from the other employees - they were used to her eccentric antics.

_Oh god oh god... always me...I never wanted to be a part of this scary shit... I just wanted university credits..._

"JANE."

Jane, who was as usual relentlessly working, heard Darcy's yelling came and upstairs from her basement office, a look of concern on her face. It was obvious that she hadn't been sleeping as she appeared tired and disjointed, her hair frizzing and falling out of her ponytail.

"Jesus Darcy it's what… eleven? What's wrong, why aren't you at the crash site?"

Darcy just looked up at Jane like a possum in the headlights, her mouth half open and blue eyes wide. She tried a few times to start a sentence, each time stopping and taking a second to reorganize her thoughts. Finally Jane cut in, impatient.

"Is it... Thor?"

Darcy shook her head quickly, ignoring the disappointment that Jane was trying to hide. Jane sighed and turned Darcy around, pushing her towards the door, "Come outside, I don't want to talk about it around everyone, they're eavesdropping. If someone passes on anything we'll have Stark and SHIELD knocking on our door by morning."

The other staff - some of whom had stopped typing - suddenly got back to work as Jane and Darcy swiftly paced away. The evening air outside of the facilities were slightly more calming than the blaring lights inside, allowing Darcy's heart rate to start dropping back to normal. They walked over to the car and Darcy took a few deep breaths as Jane continued to talk at her.

"Darcy you've been watching that crash site for 6 months and obviously something just happened... are you going to tell me exactly what you saw or are you going to scream my name a couple more times?"

Darcy held up her hand to signal that she just needed a few more seconds, and Jane leaned against the pick up truck. Since the disappearance of Thor, Jane had become regretfully grumpy. She was always up late, supposedly living on coffee, and Darcy started to wonder if she'd ever return to normal again. The Jane she knew was perky and funny, always laughing and having a good time. Over the months since the incident she had turned to stone. Taking a final breath Darcy started to recount what she had seen that spooked her so badly,

_o_

_An hour prior…_

_Ugh, I always get the worst jobs… _Darcy blew another bubble with her gum as she stared up at the sky. She loved the sky because she always found it fairly reliable: sure, sometimes there were clouds and sometimes it would rain, but every time it cleared she would always be greeted with the same shining stars. The stars were slightly different in Alberquerque than they were in New York, but she'd seen them for six consecutive months, every single night as she guarded the patch of sand which once functioned as the Bifrost.

For the first few months Jane was diligent and lovestruck, sitting there herself every single moment she had to spare. Days turned to weeks, weeks to months, and eventually Jane's undying hope faded only to be replaced with a sense of bitter abandonment. SHIELD had begun to load her up with work, and soon enough Jane ceased to watch the spot herself.

Darcy had laughed when Jane passed on the task to her - it was the story of her life: something gets too boring, so they make Darcy do it. So what had happened in her months of being guardian of the great sand? Nothing - she had seen a rattlesnake once, though. Every time she checked her Facebook on her phone she'd see a stream of pictures that her friends had put up about the 'awesome parties' she was missing. _I'm in my twenties and it's a Friday... _she thought to herself, _I should be drunk or something like that. _She noted to herself that she should make Jane throw a party at the research facility - nothing was more fun than drunk suits.

Darcy looked up to see a single shooting star invading her usually familiar sky. _Well would you look at that? The first insignificantly interesting thing to happen in a while... _ She checked her watch - the night was still young and she still had a long time yet to wait in the cold. She pulled her scarf closer and wished that it would start getting warmer - it was almost May after all, summer should be right around the bend. The star that had shot across the sky appeared to be curving at the horizon and turning around. It took Darcy a few seconds to realize, but whatever it was it was heading straight for her.

"Oh come on, are you serious?"

She said to no one in particular, running for the pick up truck. She got in and fumbled with the keys, trying to get it started. The falling star continued it's journey, right towards the all too familiar crash site. Finally, getting the truck started and Darcy scurried down the road, seeing the ball of light in the mirror plummeting down behind her. She pushed the accelerator, edging the truck away from the potential danger.

She was both excited and nervous - finally she was going to have something to show Jane when she got back to headquarters. No more empty reports or disappointed looks, just a happy Jane and her eye-candy friend Thor walking around the place. _It is Thor, right?_ The comet touched down behind her, causing the ground to shake.

The second she possibly could she jumped out of the car, running over to the crash site as fast as she possibly could. She found it odd that Thor - or whoever it was - hadn't taken the usually tranquil Bifrost mode of transport, and instead really crash landed. She approached the crater slowly, edging down and standing over the smoking green cloaked figure.

"Who are you?" She asked the mysterious form. She walked a circle around to see his face. He was shivering, and appeared weak and crippled. His green eyes shone like gateways into the gears of a clock - he wasn't moving but wheels were turning within his head.

"Help me up?" He said with a pleasant smile.

His black hair was smoldering in places and his skin burnt in patches... his armor was unmistakable though - he was from Asgard. Darcy bent down to touch him, placing her hand on his cheek. He looked up at her until she quickly pulled her hand away with a squeak.

"You're... freezing. You're freezing cold. How is that possible?"

Darcy stood up and began to run back up to her pick up truck.

"Just help me up? Come back!" He yelled weakly behind her.

Darcy got into the truck and began to drive. No, she wasn't doing anything without telling Jane first. Even if he was kind of hot.

o

"So it's not Thor?" Jane said, snapping Darcy out of her recollection. Darcy shook her head again.

"For the last time, no. Not unless he now looks like a hot version of Dracula. Now are we going to go and help the guy or what? We can't really just leave him there..."

Before they knew it they were back in the truck hurtling down the rough New Mexico road. It took the usual twenty minutes to drive out to the spot, but it was easy enough to find. The man hadn't moved at all from when Darcy left, still lying in fetal position.

"He looked a lot worse when I left, he doesn't have burns on his face anymore." Darcy said, slightly confused. Jane stomped up to and leaned over him, Darcy lagging behind her at the top of the cater.

"Why are you here." Jane said to him in a low voice, kneeling down and looking him in the eye.

"I... I don't believe we've met?"

Jane looked at Darcy, and then back to the man on the ground.

"You know very well who I am. Now me and my assistant are about to help you, and you are not going to say a word until I tell you that you can speak. I am immensely angry at what you did, so I am going to have very little patience with you. Understand?"

"Yes… yes I understand."

Darcy made it to the bottom of the crater, asking Jane what was going on.

"Darcy, that man is not a man you want to trust... you can trust _me_ on that one," Darcy turned her gaze to him. - yes, he was injured, but he could see the mirth in his eyes. He knew exactly what was going on and what he was doing. Jane continued, "That's Loki, Thor's brother. Remember, the one that tried to kill us? We're taking him back to headquarters and restraining him."

Darcy nodded and watched as Jane ran up to the truck and came out with handcuffs, throwing them down into the crater to Darcy.

"I'm going to start the car up. You cuff him and bring him up, then we'll get back to HQ as fast as we can."

Darcy nodded and turned back to Loki, eyeing him up. He was strangely thin but undeniably enticing, and although he was covered in sand he had a slight smile to his lips which lit up his face. Spinning the handcuffs in a circle on one of her fingers she walked towards him.

"Sooo… you like handcuffs?"

"I love them, dear. Please, go ahead."

He held out his wrists and Darcy couldn't help but smile as she snapped the cuffs onto him. She tried to help him off of the ground but he shrugged her off, effortlessly managing to walk up to the top of the crater without his hands. Even with her hands Darcy had tripped and slid on her way up. Without any fuss he got into the back of the truck, leaning his head against the windows as Jane and Darcy jumped back in.

"Aren't you scared he'll jump out?"

Darcy asked Jane as they began to drive. Jane shrugged, "Honestly I think he's too tired. If he's anywhere as powerful as Thor said he was he'd probably be halfway across the country by now. Something tells me he's had a bit of a hard time."

Darcy looked out the back windows at him - he was looking up at the sky.

"You know what, Jane? I think we've all had a bit of a hard time lately. And something tells me that it isn't going to change anytime soon."

o

29/07/2012 - Edited to perfection. Follow me on tumblr for new: tcorgin


	2. One Way Glass

**Things Left Unsaid**

**By: Thessaly Corgin**

**Chapter 2: One Way Glass**

o

"Doctor Selvig has arrived," announced one of the security guards. Darcy looked to see Erik Selvig coming through the doors. He was a funny old man - stark, quiet, and then oddly hilarious at some of the best moments. He came and stood next to them, a smile on his face as he took in the sight in front of him.

"Why do we even have a holding tank?" Darcy asked vacantly, secretly excited by the situation and trying desperately to break the silence and find out what was going on.

Behind the thick, apparently 'soundproof' one way glass of the 'holding talk' Loki lay on a bench. The bench was rigid and metal, but the way that he lay across it made it look like it was a bed made of feathers. He stared at the ceiling with an air of nonchalance, a smile surely waiting behind his blank expression.

"Probably in case we ever intercepted criminals by accident?" Erik responded, "But honestly kid I have no idea, but those fancy agents thought it would be a good idea. Thus we have one."

Darcy nodded, going back to staring at the man behind the glass. He gaze travelled around the room, landing on Darcy.

"Erik I think he's looking at me..."

Erik shook his head, "It's one way glass, he's looking at his reflection - vain bastard."

"Oh. I must be going crazy or something, too much excitement. Jane, are you okay?"

Jane had gone absolutely white, her lips firmly pressed together. Without saying a thing she walked out of the room, the door closing loudly behind her.

Darcy made a move after her and Erik grabbed her shoulder, stopping her.

"No, don't go after her. She's just upset. Can you imagine waiting months for the man you love and getting his brother as a consolation prize?"

"Yeah… I guess. But someone should make sure she's okay."

"Just give it time."

Darcy looked at her watch.

"We got him back here at 11:30pm last night, and they've been in there ever since. I woke up at about 6:00am and just came over about half an hour ago and she was just sitting here. Staring."

"Just give it time."

Erik put his hand on her shoulder and ushered her out of the room, taking her upstairs to the cafeteria for some poorly made cups of bitter black coffee. Not long afterwards, Jane came up to join them. She appeared grim and close to tears. Erik stood up and hugged her while Darcy looked around nervously, thinking about the man with dark hair - were they going to let him out of the cell? Erik turned to Jane.

"Jane… I think that you should get some sleep."

Jane's eyes were dark and tired, her hair still frazzled from the night before and her clothes dirty, "But… someone has to watch him…I can't keep him in the cell all day, that's cruel."

Erik nodded, turning to Darcy, "Guess what, Darcy? You just made a new best friend. Keep your eyes on him and don't let him run around on his own."

"What? What am I supposed to do with him?"

"You can play tennis for all I care. Just keep him out of trouble, Jane needs to sleep."

Darcy nodded and finished her coffee, basically skipping as she made her way out of the cafeteria.

o

The whole area was freezing cold, and the holding cell appeared to be made completely of metal. She could honestly say that it didn't look like the most comfortable place to spend time in - she hoped she never ended up being a criminal or something. Loki still lay draped across the bench, his boots and cloak piled on the ground beside him. She walked slowly up to the glass, trying to get a better look at him while she had the chance to be a voyeur. The second she stepped close he looked up, staring directly at her with a smirk.

"One way glass my ass..."

She mumbled, walking around to the door. Now that she had access to what she had been so curious about the night before, she was starting to wonder if it really was a good idea or not. So far as she knew he had the power to kill her with his little finger. Before she put in the access code to get into his room, she looked through the glass in the door at him. _He still has handcuffs on. He is not going to kill me. _She walked in.

"Hello."

He said, his voice coming from right beside her. Darcy yelped and nearly jumped out of her skin, absolutely baffled that he had managed to get so closed to her so fast. He stood right next to her, his mouth smiling but not his eyes.

"How did you -" Darcy desperately tried to regain her composure, taking a few deep breaths, "well I-I'm Darcy and you can kind of think of me like your babysitter. Apparently I'm not allowed to let you out of my sight or you might run off and cause trouble, so don't try and make my life harder than it is, okay?"

Loki gave her an evaluating look - he was much taller than she was and much wider, the size difference startling her slightly. The night before he had seemed crippled and week, but there was no question now that he was a god. He made a noise that sounded like brief laughter.

"Sure, I'll play along with that. I don't exactly feel like causing any big trouble right now. But I'm going to admit, I took the handcuffs off. They stop being fun after a few hours."

He held up two completely free hands, and motioned to the pair of hand cuffs on top of his piled cape. Now that he had Darcy on edge, he returned to his spot on the bench. Darcy noticed that, although he was concealing it well, he was limping, one hand clutched to his side.

"Okay, you broke the cuffs. Why haven't you escaped yet?"

Loki looked at the locked door.

"No reason to leave. I _could_ get out, but there's honestly nothing out there that appeals to me more than what I have in here. It's far too much fun to mess with the lot of you."

He gave her an open mouthed smile, which didn't appear friendly at all. Darcy blushed and picked up the few articles of clothing he had dropped on the floor. She was hardly surprised to find that the boots and cloak were incredibly heavy.

"You… haven't really been messing with us that much, though. We're all a little tired around here at the moment."

"Well, I'm sure that I'll get my chance eventually."

"Well I'm taking you to your new room. I don't really think that you could actually leave if you wanted to, so just come with me. I'll let you out."

Loki's smile faded as he didn't look very amused that she wasn't playing into... whatever he was trying to make her play into. She didn't know. She expected him to say something sarcastic but instead she found that he was gone, and she was alone in the steel cell room.

With a sigh she went up to the keypad and opened the door to leave. Before she left she looked at the 'one way glass': the only thing she could see in it was her own reflection. She walked out the door and looked around, both corridors appearing to be empty.

"Uh... Mister Loki? Or whatever? You can come back now."

With a _thump_ he appeared on the floor next to her, and he didn't look like he was very comfortable.

"Are you hurt or something? Or did you mean to do that?"

He struggled to stand up, and leaned against the wall facing away from her.

"I'm fine... don't you dare think... yes of course I meant to do it, it was just unwise of me to use magic like that while injured."

He said while panting. Darcy went to put her hand on his shoulder, and he jerked away violently.

"Don't touch me, girl. Take me to my room."

Darcy didn't say anything in response, surprised by how snarky he had become so fast. They snaked through the maze of a building, eventually finding themselves in the residential wing. In the last nine months since Thor's departure the Albuquerque research facility had expanded tenfold, now housing decent food and more than trailers to sleep in. It also appeared to be getting larger weekly, with rumors of a pool on the top deck and a library hidden somewhere. Darcy opened the door to one of the unoccupied rooms and Loki walked in. He frowned.

"The bed is not sufficient. I require a better bed."

Darcy scoffed, dropping the cloak of his she was carrying onto the ground.

"That's the same kind of bed everyone else has, so it's going to have to do. Sorry we're not luxury five star accommodation - we're a remote base in the middle of nowhere, New Mexico."

Surprisingly, without any more protests, Loki walked in and began to remove his remaining clothing. Darcy's first instinct was to turn away, but she could't helped but watch him take his shirt off. He wasn't as built as Thor - not by a long shot - but his arms were toned and back muscled. He was obviously built for a different type of strength. He undressed the rest of the way and crawled into the bed, pulling a pillow over top of his head.

"Seriously, you're going to sleep? It isn't even 9 in the morning yet."

"Do we really have to talk about this? No, don't answer. There's nothing to talk about. Leave," Loki mumbled back from under a pillow he had put over his head. Darcy sat down on a chair and pulled it up next to the bed.

"Well I can't let you out of my sight or Jane might get angry so I'm going to sit here and watch you."

"I'd really rather if you didn't. Just - don't touch me."

Darcy for a while Darcy listened to him breathe, staring off into space.

"Can I ask you a question, Loki?"

Loki took a moment to respond, his voice quiet, "Yes?"

"Have you lied to me yet?"

Again he was silent for some time, before responding, "No. Of course not."

Darcy continued to stare off into space, wondering how long it would take for everyone to perk up and start having fun again. Summer was just around the corner, after all. _It's a shame, though... _ Darcy thought to herself as she played each conversation over and over, _I can already tell he's lying._

o

29/07/2012 - Edited to perfection. Follow on tumblr for updates! tcorgin


	3. Babysitting

**Things Left Unsaid**

**By: Thessaly Corgin (Corgin)**

**Chapter 3: Babysitting**

o

"Darcy... Darcy... wake up."

Darcy snapped awake from her snoozing spot on the chair. She spazzed out momentarily, checking that her prisoner was still there, before turning to Jane and Erik who were standing at the door. Loki was still asleep… _or so she assumed_.

"It's almost six in the evening... thought you would be hungry. We've already eaten and we were going to run around and see if we can find some clothing for the fellow," Erik said, motioning to Loki. "So far we found a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. You can give him these until we find him something else. Or maybe you can take him shopping. Something along those lines."

Darcy accepted the clothing from him, secretly super excited at the prospect of taking him clothes shopping. He would look _so good_ in Calvin Klein. She looked back and forth between her friends, speaking to Jane.

"Jane… is there anything I can do?"

Jane smiled, shaking her head. She was looking better than before - her skin had regained some color and she'd had a shower, "No, don't worry about it. I think I just need a vacation."

Before they left Erik turned back, "Oh, listen... Darcy... There are a LOT of people out there who would _love_ to meet Loki... and they don't exactly intend on being kind. So make sure he doesn't go wandering? Keep him entertained."

Again, Darcy and waiting for the two to leave. She wasn't sure where the relationship of colleague had turned into 'best friends who can't live without each other'. It was probably because of Thor: the man had ripped such a hole in their lives and surprised them beyond such disbelief that they could only ever share their thoughts with each other. Erik had become like a father to Darcy and Jane like a sister. They fought, they laughed, they cried. They were a family.

Darcy stood up and walked around the bed to wake up Loki, only to find that he was already away and staring out of the window. He was a lucky one - not many rooms on each floor harbored a window.

"Hi." Darcy said, "I brought you clothes." She dropped the heap on the bed and after a few seconds Loki grabbed them. Instead of putting them on he just pulled them under the covers and continued to stare out the window.

"If I wanted to go 'wandering', I would. It's safe to say there's nothing you could possibly do to stop me. I advise you don't try if it comes to that."

Darcy rolled her eyes and drummed her hands on her legs, trying to think of something to say.

"Do you eat?"

Loki turned to look at her, as his gaze had wandered away. It didn't appear that the sleep had done him any good, his face lightly bruised and he had dark circles under his eyes giving the impression that he had not slept in centuries. _Do gods usually sleep? _Darcy wondered. Loki looked puzzled.

"Haven't you heard of the great feasts of Asgard? Weddings, life, death, battles, anything. We'll drink and eat to in the finest fashion possible. Of course I eat."

He sounded slightly annoyed. Darcy could feel her self confidence draining. Every time he looked at her she felt naked and judged.

"Well uh.. if you're hungry, we have a meal hall I could take you to?"

Darcy felt him evaluating her.

"Yes, that will suffice."

o

"Seriously Erik, she's not a dumb kid. I think you should just drop it."

Erik looked to the table where Loki and Darcy were sitting. Loki was pushing the food around on his plate while he stared at Darcy, as she was trying desperately to amuse him. She was making huge gestures and talking not stop, occasionally laughing while Loki still sat stoned faced.

"Just look Jane, look at the way he's staring at her. What do you see?"

Jane turned around in her seat to look at the pair.

"Uhm, looks like Darcy is trying to keep him entertained, like we told her to, and he looks bored."

"No, look closer. How is he looking at her?"

Jane looked at the couple again, "Honestly, I don't see anything strange. She's a girl, of course he's going to look at her. Do you remember Thor's reaction? He wasn't exactly polite."

Erik shook his head. "No. That's not the way a boy looks at a girl. That's the way a lion looks at his prey. How he stalks it for days and sizes it up before he attacks."

"He is not going to eat her, sorry. I'm more worried about her tiring him out with her rambling and him leaving"

Erik nodded. "She's read as many books on Norse mythology as we have, you'd think that she would know who he is and what his specialty is? And that he is nothing like Thor?"

Jane shrugged, "we'll give him a chance. We can always just hand him over to Stark if he gets too mischievous." Erik still did not look impressed.

"You aren't eating anything." Darcy moaned as Loki stared at her.

"There is nothing I wish to eat." a smile flicked in the corner of his mouth. "What is it exactly that you do here?"

"Me?"

"That's a satisfactory beginning."

"I'm Jane's assistant. I pretty much do what they tell me to do. I was supposed to graduate university soon but they offered me a job out here because of all of the stuff that went down last year. My other option was finishing my degree and working in a grocery store."

"I see. You are a handmaiden. And what is the specific point of this... what do you call this?" He motions around himself.

"Research facility. After Thor left and never returned, a group called SHIELD asked us to continue the research, and offered to pay for everything, including food and the like. It's kind of like living in a hotel. A hotel that does science! Of course it wasn't always like this, it was just a bunch of motor homes when I left to go back to university last year. When I returned a few months ago this had sprung up. I think SHIELD is some weird part of the government. They're pretty friendly, though. Except not to you. You shouldn't talk to any of them. Or Stark. I think."

"I see..."

Nothing was said for a few minutes. Darcy finally broke the silence, feeling on edge due to his intense stare and deep concentration.

"Stop, you're plotting."

"I'm sorry?" He replied, confused.

"You're rubbing your finger on your lips repetitively. Across them. It's a mannerism that some people have - they usually do it when they're thinking about something in particular, and pondering a specific point. You're plotting something."

He took his hand away from his face - she was right. Political science degree? More like psychology.

"You're wrong."

Darcy just laughed - his quick reaction to her accusation said it all.

"I find our conversation dull. I am leaving."

He said, pulling out his chair and walking out of the cafeteria. Darcy ran after him, still follow Jane and Erik's orders quite thoroughly: not letting him out of her sight.

o

29/07/2012 - Edited to perfection. Follow on tumblr for updates, news, sequels - tcorgin.


	4. Earth Etiquette

**Things Left Unsaid**

**By: Thessaly Corgin (Corgin)**

**Chapter 4: Earth Etiquette**

o

Sleep had come easily to no one for months. Darcy found that sleeping pills usually did the trick, but always left her absolutely exhausted in the morning. She'd followed Loki diligently all day, and finally Erik had told her to go and get some rest. She'd be tentative - although she was exhausted a part of her enjoyed following a handsome man around all day - but eventually she had taken up the offer. She had just turned on the shower and undressed herself when she stepped back into her room to get a towel - she loved having an on suit.

"I require assistance. I don't understand the bathing fountain in my room."

Darcy yelped and dropped her towel, whipping around to face a rather unamused Loki. She stood shocked for a moment before she grabbed her towel again and covered herself, feeling her cheeks light up in embarrassment. She couldn't help but wonder where his eyes had managed to travel in ten seconds.

"Why are you in my room." she said in a hushed but obviously angry voice.

"Do I have to repeat myself?"

"Okay. Let's see here. Earth etiquette rule one - much like other people around here,I have a name. Use it, I'm not a maid. Rule two - YOU DO NOT WALK INTO PEOPLES ROOMS WITHOUT KNOCKING. Didn't your mother teach you anything?"

Loki just looked displeased. "As far as I'm concerned, you're a handmaiden. That's exactly as you described yourself earlier. This is not my doing, it is your own. Handmaidens do not have names. As for the question, we would walk in. As long as it was not my fathers chambers, we need not to ask for permission."

"So you'd just walk in on each other being naked and shit?"

Loki just shrugged, his expression still blank, leaning towards annoyed. "That is a state that hardly concerns us. All citizens of Asgard are beautiful and youthful, little room is left to be self conscious. I guess you have reason to be." He looked her up and down again, and she felt naked even though she was wearing a towel. Darcy could have slapped him.

"Yeah, okay conversation over, out of my room. And for the record? I like Thor _much_ more. You look scrawny and weak."

Loki flexed his hands, and light dangerously flashed in his eyes as he disappeared. Darcy sat down on the floor and put her head in her hands. _Don't cry don't cry don't cry. _

o

"Darcy, it's eight in the morning. Get out of your room, you're over sleeping and I actually need you to work today. I have a report that needs proofreading and I have to send it into SHIELD before dinner."

Darcy sat up in bed, her hair everywhere she could feel the bags under her eyes and had absolutely that she looked somewhere between ghost and zombie. Jane walked in as she was trying to rearrange her crazy hair. She looked at Jane with a sour expression.

"Oh dear. Sound the alarms, Darcy's in a huff. Where's your friend?"

"He called me fat. And he wanted me to show him how to use a shower."

Jane tried not to laugh, "He called you fat?"

"Well, not directly. You know he talks all fancy and stuff. But that's what he meant."

"Darcy you probably shouldn't liste-"

"And he said I'm a useless handmaiden."

Jane rolled her eyes.

"Okay, sorry, reality check here: you were talking to Loki."

"Yeah?"

"God of mischief?"

"... yes?"

"And you're complaining that he called you fat and made mean comments about you - and you were the one who was just _dying _to spend time with him and figure out what he was about?"

Darcy still looked remarkably upset.

"I don't know, just when Thor came over he was destroying hospitals and smashing things and then suddenly one morning you two were cooking eggs together. I guess I'm still hoping that it will be like that."

Jane sighed and sat on the edge of the bed with a sigh, "Listen Darcy - I know what you mean. The only thing that I could think when we found him was that maybe he could be like Thor. I mean, you know how they say 'shoot for the moon, that way if you miss you might land in the stars'? I was kind of hoping this would be my chance to settle for the stars."

Darcy gave Jane a look of shock and pity, "You thought that he could replace Thor? Seriously? That seems kind of... wrong. Really wrong."

Jane shrugged, "Regardless, I quickly figured out that they're a little... different. If you want to try and crack him, be my guest. Now, I expect my edited report sent to me by 6pm. Other than that, keep our voluntary prisoner occupied."

Jane put a flash drive on Darcy's bed side table and then left the room. Darcy flopped back down into bed - the day already giving her a headache.

o

Darcy knocked on the door to Loki's room, and for the fourth time in a row she was greeted by dead silence. With a gulp, she pushed open the door and peeked in. The room appeared empty so she walked in and closed the door behind her.

_Creepy... I wonder where he is?_

The lights were turned off but natural light streamed in from the window, and the bathroom door lay open which showed her he wasn't hiding in there. The bed was disheveled and unmade, and the bed side lamp was on the floor.

"I thought you considered it rude to walk into one's chambers without permission?"

Darcy nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of his voice. She turned around to find him leaning against the closed door of the room. He flashed her an arrogant smile and she thought of something accusing to say.

"Where were you?"

Loki gave a look of mock innocence, "I have no idea what you are talking about."

Darcy gave the room a quick glance again, "Look, I'm not king of wit but I'm at least not completely stupid all the time, and I know that you were not here in this room. You're not supposed to wander - where were you?"

She could see that for a split second he was actually considering the option of telling her. Suddenly an unmistakable twinge of pain crossed his face, as he grabbed his side and rushed to sit down. He leaned back in the chair and took a deep breath.

"Are you dying? Or melting? Or turning mortal or something? I don't know what happens to gods when they hang around here."

The glance she received was reminiscent of annoyance. "I'm not _dying_, my guess is that something has not healed correctly."

Darcy thought for a moment.

"If you don't move, I can do something about that. So.. don't move?"

Loki gave no response and stared at her blankly, his expression more of a frown than anything. Darcy took that as 'yes', left the room and walked down the hallway, heading for Jane's office. _So if he can teleport... he can be anywhere and I won't notice? How am I supposed to keep an eye on him if that's not physically possible..._ Darcy was thinking that he needed a tracking collar. He was into handcuffs, maybe he was into collars as well.

She reached Jane's office and barged in, "Jane is there a particular reason we haven't taken Loki to the SHIELD hospital yet? I mean it was pretty obvious when we picked him up that he needed it. Also he's wearing the same clothes as yesterday, are we going to get him more? He's also bleeding and it's gross."

Jane looked up from her work and rubbed her face with her hands.

"We haven't told SHIELD about our little discovery, and taking him to medical facilities would mean registering him on the healthcare database, therefore telling them exactly what we found. They would probably then confiscate him and we would never see him again. Why, what's wrong with him?"

"Oh. I don't know, he's broken."

Jane rolled her eyes and pulled out a map of the building, and circled a room.

"We have a physiotherapist that works today until 4. He's in this room. I've seen him do some pretty extreme stuff - I think he's a med school dropout. Nice guy, though."

Darcy looked at the map and began to walk out of the room.

"Oh okay. And Jane?"

"Yes?"

"Why do we have an on site physiotherapist?"

Jane was silent for a second.

"SHIELD offered, I wasn't going to say no. Plus, he's cute!"

Darcy smiled and headed back to Loki's room, proud that she had at least solved one problem so far in the day. Upon entry she found that Loki was indeed still there, which warranted a breath of relief. She grinned widely.

"Come on! We're going to get you fixed."

"I'm not broken."

Loki looked wary and slightly ill - or maybe he was always that pale? Regardless, Darcy appeared impatient.

"Hurry up! He only works until four."

"It is ten."

"If you don't get up I'll drag you, come on."

"I look small but I'm heavy. You couldn't drag me if you tried."

For a split second he actually considered putting up a fight, then he realized it really was a waste of effort. He stood up and follow the enthusiastic girl.

o

"Okay, so what I really want to know, is why you've been walking around with an injury that's over a month old. I bet this hurts."

Loki knew that the injury was only a few days old, but since he had fallen through space and time all sorts of odd things could have happened to it. His rapidly regenerating flesh probably helped the situation as well. Loki was lying down on the physiotherapists table looking rather uncomfortable as the man interrogated him and poked at his ribs.

"So what's wrong with him?" Darcy asked.

The physiotherapist shrugged. "Looks like a couple of broken ribs that healed incorrectly."

"Okay, and how do we fix him?"

Loki tried to sit up and the physio pushed him back down, warranting a look of incredible annoyance from his patient. "Hello, I'm lying here. I hear your conversation. You're speaking like I'm not here?"

The physiotherapist looked over at Loki, who now maybe looked a little scared or confused. "Well... we could just leave them, and let them cause pain. Or you could take him to a hospital, which really is the best option... or..."

Darcy walked over to the table, "Or?"

"We break them again and I'll bind his chest so that they'll heal correctly."

Darcy smiled, "Perfect! That sounds like it will fix the problem."

Darcy just wanted to be out of there as fast as possible so that she didn't have to explain anything else. The physio was nice enough, but he'd be stupid not to ask questions if he got to know the situation any further. The physiotherapist shook his head and looked down at Loki. "You good at taking pain? You look like a little guy who doesn't fight much, so I'd guess not."

Darcy saw a flash of green anger in Loki's eyes. He balled his fists tightly and then slowly relaxed his hands, "I don't care." he said. In truth he did care - he didn't trust any strange Midgardian doctor to do anything to him. But he'd fought with his brothers Thor and Balder plenty, so he assumed that pain wouldn't be much of an issue.

The physiotherapist grinned dangerously, "Brilliant! I've always wanted to do this. Unfortunately I don't have any anesthetic, and technically this is illegal under my work contract. But we're going to do it anyway!"

Darcy could see why Jane liked this guy. "Wait? There's nothing you have to set up? How are you going to do it?"

He stretched his arm, "With my elbow. Now, best to do it quickly before he realizes what he's agreed to. Roll up his shirt? And you buddy, you probably want to hold on to something."

Loki had a violent urge to dissipate because he could feel that the situation was no longer in his control at all. Darcy rolled up his shirt.

"This is like, the weirdest thing I've seen in a while."

Darcy said as the physiotherapist lined up his elbow. Loki grabbed her hand and squeezed. With a sickening crack, his hand went limp.

"Oh god he's dead."

She said, the words just tumbling out of her mouth as a first reaction. Was he usually that pale? That cold? She couldn't tell.

"He's not dead, he just passed out from the pain. Like I said, little guy. He'll probably roll around in about four seconds."

The physiotherapist had already bound his rib cage with a thick elastic bandage, quickly inspecting his work to make sure it wouldn't come off..

"You'd be surprised how easy it is to crack ribs when they've already been broken once. Although, not going to lie, that was pretty tough. I wonder how he- where did he go?"

The table lay empty. Darcy took a deep breath. _Ooooh boy._

"He's a quick one. I like to think of him like a sneaky wolf - now that he's injured he's returned to his cave to lick his wounds by himself. Actually, hyena. They kind of like gross, sneaky wolves."

Darcy mumbled quickly, grabbing her bag and backing towards the door. The physiotherapist just stood in shock.

"He probably shouldn't be able to walk right now..."

Darcy shrugged nervously.

"Anyways... thanks for your help, I kind of have to go find him. Have a good day!"

She ran out the door. The physiotherapist just stared at the empty space where Loki was.

"Well, this is what I get for working for SHIELD." He muttered to himself. He seriously had no idea what went on in the faculties and research facilities around him, and he wasn't sure that he wanted to know.

o

Darcy had already hesitated three times to walk in Loki's room, and she wasn't going to do it again. Why was she so scared this time? She went for the door knob the fourth time, and pulled away. She wondered if the physiotherapist would mention anything to Jane or Erik about the disappearing act? Part of her felt protective, as if she should go back and tell the man not to tell anyone what had happened. Another part of her said that he wasn't going to tell anyone anyways. Impulsively, she grabbed the door knob and walked into Loki's room.

He lay in his bed, the covers pulled up to his neck.

"You hesitated to walk in. You tried four other times."

He said quietly. Darcy sat down in the chair next to his bed.

"That - disappearing in front of a person. That can't happen again. If Jane or Erik knew, I don't know what they'd do. They don't know that you can do all sorts of cool shit. They've already asked me about it, and I've lied. I know that means nothing to you, you're the king of lies or something, but I'm not very good at lying."

"Apologies - it was instinctive. There was no thought behind it."

Darcy pondered for a moment, understanding what he was implying.

"You were scared?"

Loki took in a deep breath and turned his head to the ceiling. After a long pause he began to speak, "In Asgard, we have no fear for pain. Humans fear pain because it is associated with death. As gods, even if we are to die we will live on in the hearts of our subjects and followers, and one day be reincarnated. Here..."

He looked around the room, and whispered, "I do not know what happens. I suppose I could actually die."

Darcy realized that what he was saying was probably the first serious thing he had ever said to her. If he was being serious.

"But... you're still a god on Earth. You can disappear and I'm sure you can do other weird things..."

A lamp at the other end of the room fell of its table onto the floor, "Yes, I have my magic. But if I die... do I bleed mortal blood? When I fought my brother, not long ago, even the weight of his hammer caused no lasting pain. It was fleeting, as if it were at the back of my mind, not actually connected. What that man just did... I have never felt anything like that before."

Darcy's mind completely derailed.

"Wait, you fought with Thor?"

Suddenly, she remembered the encounter with the Destroyer, and realized that it probably wasn't a topic she was supposed to breach.

"N-never mind, don't listen to me." She said, realizing she had already killed any conversation in the man. Darcy expected anger, but instead he stared out at the wall in front of him with that all too familiar blank face. As she got up to leave the room, she wondered if it was his way of telling her to go away, or if it was a look of subtle sadness.

She picked up the lamp he had knocked over with magic and put it back on the table. She wondered if he'd knock it back off in spite once she left.

"Don't worry..." she said quietly, "You're still a god..."

Loki's expression didn't change.

o

29/07/2012 - Edited to sound better. Check out my tumblr for news: tcorgin


	5. Prone to Change

**Things Left Unsaid**

**By: Thessaly Corgin (Corgin)**

**Chapter 5: Prone to Change**

o

"Hey, why are you up here?"

Darcy yelled as she clambered up the ladder to the roof, finding that Loki was sitting against one of the chimneys. Darcy had always claimed this part of the roof as her own - at their old base Jane always went up on the roof, so Darcy reckoned she deserved her own roof too. _Ugh, this is like the day that never ends..._. Taking care of Loki was harder than she thought. Hopefully Jane and Erik would stop laughing at her soon and give Loki his own job to do, so she could get back to hers. Darcy was fairly sure that the two of them liked to watching her run back and forth trying to keep up with her displeased prisoner. As she approached Loki, he made no movement.

"Mister Loki?"

He was an attractively slender shape in the moonlight - he had a way of draping himself over things that made him look like he belonged there. His head was tilted back against the chimney, his eyes closed and face pointing towards the sky. Darcy studied him: although he looked quite stunning in the Asgardian getup he had arrived in, he suited the Midgardian clothes more than he would have liked to admit. His slender legs fit nicely into jeans and the curve of his neck to his collar bones exposed by his t-shirt made Darcy shiver. His eyes opened and tilted towards her.

"Can you see your home?" she asked, looking up towards her favorite stars. A few clouds drifted along, but for the most part it was another clear night. She went and sat next to him, leaning against the chimney and turning her gaze skyward.

"No," was his reply, "not in the sky. But I can see it if I close my eyes."

"What does it look like?"

Both of their voices were quiet and soft, shoulders and arms touching. Silence hung between them for a moment before Loki took and breath and began to paint a picture with words.

"When you approach it from the Bifrost you see a fortress made out of gold. Majestic spires clime skyward, some so high that you can't even see them if you look as far up as you can. There are lakes and waterfalls snaking their way through the sky, some touching land and running through Asgard itself, some pouring off into nowhere. The water of Asgard is so clear that the reflection it produces is more true that any of image of yourself, and the wine is so sweet and fine you could drink it like water and not find yourself ill. Colors are brighter, plants flourish more than they do in any other realm. Asgard is the perfect kingdom."

Darcy could almost hear his unspoken words: _Asgard is my perfect kingdom. Asgard is rightfully mine._

"So why wouldn't you just... go home? Why are you here? You seem to jump around a lot, couldn't you just teleport or whatever back there?"

Loki took a deep breath, his gaze falling from the sky to land right in front of him, across the desert.

"Yes.. but: I tried to kill my brother. My father is ashamed to have raised me. Asgard holds no place for me, I am unsure if it ever will."

Darcy relaxed and leaned against his chest, and he flinched slightly. Darcy wasn't sure if he flinched from the pain of his ribs or the contact with her.

"I'm sure one day you'll be forgiven - I left home at sixteen to live with my boyfriend... my mother practically disowned me. My boyfriend and I only lasted six months so I asked if I could come home, and she let me back in with open arms even though we didn't talk for those six months. I'm sure that your father loves you."

A quick smile flashed on Loki's face. He considered for a moment before turning to face her.

"Do you think that gods can change?"

Darcy was quiet for a moment.

"I am sure that they can change. If you're going to stay on Earth, though, you may as well consider yourself a man."

"Man.." Loki repeated

"Man, you know. The ones that fall in love and get jobs and do all of that stuff. Hey you weren't asleep when I got up here were you? I bet you were doing something you weren't supposed to."

He weighed up the pros and cons of telling here, and eventually tried to break it down into a simplified explanation.

"It is difficult to describe it to you. I can duplicate myself with magic, seemingly endlessly. When I create a duplicate, its eyes are my eyes. It can fly and look around while I remain in my body. The duplicates are small enough in magic that they do not show up on an energy radar."

Darcy understood about half of what she was being told.

"Okay, so does that mean you can fly?"

Loki was taken aback by the stupidity of her question, "Well - yes, I suppose. But I am not going to go and show that off to your friends. That would be even worse than teleporting."

"Do you do it a lot? The looking thing?"

"I call it scrying. And yes, I am doing it right now."

"Man, you're like a super hero or something. We have some of those around here - like Tony Stark. Except he's gotten all serious and weird. He used to be some alcoholic and he was always on the news for doing silly things. I found naked pictures of him online."

Loki laughed.

"Super hero... I like the sound of that."

Darcy realized that she was leaning against his chest. She shot forward quickly, and sat a few paces away.

"Oh.. god, I'm sorry, your ribs - I totally forgot. Are you okay?"

Loki looked puzzled for a moment, then remembered.

"They healed hours ago. I suppose they healed incorrectly because I was thrown through some sort of wormhole on my way to Earth. Once broken again, they set into place quickly."

Darcy shook her head, "Weird. Like, all of you are seriously odd."

"All of us?"

"Well, you and Thor."

Loki laughed a dangerous laugh - he obviously wasn't amused. His face was dark and his eyes said nothing of humor.

"Why is it always about my brother? I am on Earth because I tried to pick death over living under his rule. I wanted to _die._"

Darcy really couldn't say anything that wouldn't upset him or piss him off, so she kept her mouth shut for once. Looking him up and down, Darcy saw a certain sadness in his expression.

"He - my father - gave him a warrior goddess. The strongest in all of Asgard, as a play thing."

He gulped, "And they gave me the most useless woman I have ever met in my life."

Darcy almost laughed, even though Loki seemed sombre.

"You were jealous! You wanted your brother's girlfriend all along. Is that why you're so angry all the time?"

Loki eyed her up.

"No. I tolerated what was given to me. Do you know how old I am, Darcy?"

Darcy had never really thought about age. He looked maybe thirty? At most? His face looked a little tired, with sunken eyes, but for the most part he was youthful. She knew better, though.

"Hundreds of years," he said, "hundreds... watching father favor Thor. Watching father prepare him to be a king while he hardly gave me time of day to help me learn to fight. I was the shadow. Yet my brother was oblivious, he never stood up for me... he had no problem taking all of the glory... and he loved me like a fool."

Darcy was never going to complain about how annoying her little sister is ever again.

"But... wait..." she cut in, "your existence... it's practically eternal? Gods live forever."

Loki shrugged, "Yes, I suppose. Until the Ragnarök, my father says. Destiny of the gods."

"Well then... you're only a couple hundred years old? Doesn't that make you very young?"

"I could be. I do not know what will cause the Ragnarök, and I will live until then - unless, of course, I do not die. I am unsure how being here affects the outcome..."

"What I'm getting at, is that if you're young, you've still got your whole life ahead of you. You could become a good citizen of Earth, or you could become a superhero."

_Or settle down with a nice girl... _Darcy thought. Loki seemed indifferent. He stood up.

"I am now going to bed. This conversation has been both uncomfortable and pleasing. I expect to see you in the morning."

Before she could say anything else to him, she found herself quite alone on the roof. _Could have at least helped me down... _She thought, looking at the ladder. She climbed down carefully, trying not to let the open wound touch anything. _Man, I feel like a guidance councilor for troubled gods or something. I must have 'cry on my shoulder' plastered all over me... _Not that she minded, of course. Hearing about the problems of gods was much more interesting than hearing about how upset people were with their grades or that their dog died.

It had only been three days since Loki joined their little party in the research facility, and it already felt like a lifetime. _Man, how am I going to put up with this?_ He was both charming and infuriating, handsome and untrustworthy. However... she was finding him extraordinarily likable.

o

_Ugh... 8am... _

After only 3 hours of sleep Darcy was finding it difficult to embrace the day. She dragged herself out of bed and into the shower, cringing as the hot water tried to wake her up.

"I really need to wake up quicker..."

She mumbled. She stood in peaceful water for about ten seconds before the shower went erratic, spitting warm and cold water at her. She rapidly changed the heat dial but nothing happened. After only fifteen seconds of fighting with it she jumped out of the shower and into a towel, much more awake than before. _Oh I am going to kill Jane.. I thought she got these stupid showers fixed after we had problems with them last month._ She stormed into her room to get dressed with full intentions of knocking down Jane's door and demanding better showers. She didn't get that far, however, because Loki was leaning against the far wall, his arms crossed.

"Okay, seriously - do we have to have this conversation again? You don't just walk in."

Loki shrugged.

"I did not walk in and I knew you weren't in your room, you were in the shower."

"God- I swear you're socially retarded or something." she realized what he had just said, "Wait - you knew?"

Again, he shrugged as if it were no big deal. "You were supposed to barge into my room claiming that we are going to have a wonderful day at eight. I wanted to check to see if you were in your room, or if you had forgotten about me.

"You're spying."

"Scrying, actually is what-"

"Do you realize how screwed up that is?"

Loki seemed to realize that she was actually starting to get upset.

"I am no pervert. Besides - you are a... human."

His eyes slid up and down as he inspected her again. She felt like he inspected her like a human would inspect a show horse.

"Okay, OUT."

Darcy yelled, pointing to the door.

"Go spend your day with Erik, I'm sick of you."

She yelled again, aware that he was probably still watching her. She climbed back into bed and shut her eyes tightly. _It's like there's a switch in his head that changes him from nice guy to asshole... _She thought. In just 5 minutes she could go from thinking he was becoming a nice person, to wanting to hand him over to SHIELD with no regrets.

o

Loki walked into the meal hall where Erik was eating breakfast, and sat down with him. Erik looked up from his omelet for a moment, a puzzled look on his face. He finished his bite and put down his knife and fork.

"Mister Laufeyson, what a surprise."

His voice had an edge to it, and he obviously wasn't all too pleased to find Loki sitting in front of him.

"I was told to come here."

"By Darcy?"

Loki nodded. "She yelled at me."

Erik couldn't tell if Loki's bland, expressionless voice was a sign of distress or just how he talked. He looked at Loki's eyes and saw how rapidly he was observing the meal hall, looking from one person to another. He thought of the gears that must be turning in Loki's head - he must be planning something. His mind came back to Loki's last statement.

"She yelled at you? Did you do something to piss her off?"

Loki looked up to the ceiling thinking about what he had done earlier, and then back to Erik, "Not really."

"Well, even if you don't know what pissed her off, apologize next time you see her. As for you, I have work you can help me with... and I have something that you might want."

Loki raised an eyebrow.

"Something _I _might want?"

Erik stood up.

"Come on, follow me."

Erik took a few steps away, and Loki didn't move. He motioned towards the door and finally Loki got up and followed him.

They walked to the top floor of the building - a floor flooded by natural light - and came to a door titled _library._ Erik opened the door and the pair walked in, confronted by wall to wall shelves lined the huge room filled with books. It smelled of old paper with a twinge of rotting book glue.

"What could I possibly want here?"

Loki looked like an impatient child. Erik walked over to a cart of books and wheeled it back to Loki, pulling out a book at random. He looked at the title: _Asgard and the Gods_, and threw it to Loki.

"This is my library. Ever since our encounter with your brother, I've been trying to collect every single book on Norse Mythology in the world, in hopes that maybe one of them would give me a breakthrough on how we can contact him again. I get paid a crap load, so it's not hard to find books. And I put most of them on the SHIELD account."

Loki looked around the room, suddenly realizing what Erik was offering him.

"Why would you offer me this?"

He asked, wondering if Erik realized exactly how dangerous knowledge could be to someone like Loki.

"I need your help. Start reading tomorrow, we'll pay you like an employee. I want you to go through every single book in this library, picking apart anything that might help us. You can correct anything about the gods you see if you want, I guess. Just to keep yourself interested."

Loki flicked a finger through the book in his hand. "And the catch?"

"Don't look for yourself, turn a blind eye to it. For your sake."

Loki pursed his lips. Oh well, what Erik didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

"I accept."

"Good." Erik said, "I'll go find some of the more relevant books."

Once Erik had disappeared down one of the aisles of books, Loki quietly turned to the index at the back of the book. H... I... J... K... L... Loki. His name started at him. Without missing a beat he turned to the listed page. Upon flicking to the page, he found that about 10 pages had been cut out with a sharp craft knife. _Curious... _He thought.

"Oh you bastard. I don't care if Darcy likes you, you are an untrustworthy son of a bitch."

Erik was standing behind him. Well, there was no contest, he was definitely caught in the act. He smiled briefly to Erik, "I assume our deal still stands?"

He placed the book down on the desk behind him.

"Sure. But I'm not trusting you for a second. I know your nature, and I know that gods like you aren't prone to change."

Erik left the library. _Not prone to change... _Loki sat still on the edge of the desk for a few minutes, before grabbing another book off the trolley. Again, his story was cut out. He dropped the book onto the ground and sat down on the chair on the other side of the desk. He missed heckling Darcy already.

o

30/07/2012 - Completely rewritten for the better. Rants, updates, sequels on my tumblr: tcorgin.


	6. His Ever Looming Darkness

**Things Left Unsaid**

**By: Thessaly Corgin (Corgin)**

**Chapter 6: His Ever Looming Darkness**

o

Loki stood next to Darcy, watching her reach for a book on the top of the book shelf. He didn't bother mentioning that a) he could pull it down with magic or b) he was physically about a foot taller than her, and could reach it easily. Instead he watched her struggle.

"Which book are you trying to get anyways?"

He asked, sitting down on the step stool... which he also didn't mention to her.

"There's this awesome book that you're totally not supposed to see... but I don't think it contains anything too harmful and it's seriously neat. I haven't read much of it, I got bored. I'd probably read it now, though."

She grabbed hold of it and pulled it down, handing it over to Loki. _Loki in Scandinavian Mythology. _Loki laughed out loud.

"Neat. Why is this still in the library? I thought that Erik would have burnt it by now?"

Darcy shrugged, "I hid it there ages ago. Well I didn't hide it, I just put it up there because I was too lazy to find the actually place it lives. It had a stepladder, though… wonder where that went? It's pretty hard to find something in a library if it's MIA."

"MIA?"

"Missing in action."

"Oh."

Over the past month Darcy had managed to avoid trying to kill Loki, and he had managed to start grasping the rules that humans usually live by... well, he also didn't mention that he he still spied on her constantly, but what she doesn't know wouldn't hurt her. Usually in a month he would have the whole place burnt to the ground, but he was having trouble wreaking havoc without feeling a pang of... guilt? He'd kept his mischief small scale, such as chilling all of the food right before dinner, or messing with showers... oh, how the mighty have fallen. Bothering Darcy pretty much satisfied all of his trickster urges, which was great because she was painfully easy to mess with.

"Can you grab the book next to it up there? I want that one too."

Without question Darcy started struggling to get the other book. He looked up at her t-shirt riding up her midriff as she stretched. _Human. _He told himself again - he had to tell himself that a lot these days. _For looking, not touching. _Jane came into the library.

"Guys? Seriously it's a Saturday and it's June. I was thinking of opening the pool again today. You should be outside, not locked up in the library."

Darcy turned around quickly.

"Wait, so there is a pool here? The lunch lady wasn't just messing with me when she said there was?"

Jane nodded.

Without missing a beat, Darcy was out the door with Jane. _Well, there goes my fun... _Loki thought. He looked through the eyes of one of his duplicates, and found that it was actually quite a nice day out. The duplicate he was looking through was stationed just outside of the main New Mexico SHIELD headquarters, just beyond the radar range. Although he could usually overpower or avoid radar, he was paranoid that someone would somehow spot him, and sometimes it didn't hurt to be a little paranoid. He flicked open the book Darcy had found for him, his eyes grazing the words. 'Evil'. 'God of Evil'. 'God of Mischief'. 'He Who Brings Sorrow'. He closed the book quickly and put it back on the shelf.

o

Darcy threw the beach ball at a motionless Loki, who had fallen asleep in his pool chair right next to the water. Adding a pool to headquarters was another thing that had been offered by SHIELD which they couldn't turn down, not unlike their handsome physiotherapist. Darcy laughed when Loki sat up with a slight fright and glared at her from behind his sunglasses. She found herself in the library more often than she found herself in her own office, so the amount of work she was doing had come to a standstill... not that it mattered. Loki always seemed mildly disinterested in her, yet only once had he told her to leave the library because she was disrupting his work. She was starting to think that the disinterest was a ruse.

"Why aren't you in the water?"

She yelled over to him. He looked at her, but made no response. With a sigh she went over to the ladder and climbed out of the pool.

"You're being boring." She said to him. He crossed his arms.

"Do I look like someone who belongs in the water?"

Darcy tried to ignore that he blatantly couldn't figure out where to look - Darcy reckoned the sight of her in a bikini was enough to make anyone unsettled. He _was_ right - he didn't look like he belonged in the water... then again, neither did she - they were both dead pale and looked uncomfortable in swimsuits.

Quickly becoming bored (as Darcy would often), she studied him and tried to find some way to get him into the water, even if it involved force. Thinking herself an absolutely genius she went around to the side of his chair and pulled it as fast and as hard as she could, trying to flip the chair over into the water. Naturally, it didn't budge and Loki was left looking at her with a glare somewhere between confusion and amusement.

"Did you really think anything good was going to come of that?"

With a sigh he took off his sunglasses and stood up, walking slowly over to the side of the pool. After studying it for a few moments he climbed down the ladder, standing with a bored expression in the middle of the pool. Darcy jumped into the water towards him, somehow lucking into a well aimed jump and knocking him under water.

"That was _not_ polite."

He said, slicking back the wet hair that was hanging in his eyes. Darcy had learned that if he was really displeased with a situation, he would just teleport out of it... so if he was still there, he obviously wasn't angry enough. Although, Jane was on a pool chair somewhere on the roof, so he might not want to risk her noticing. Darcy jumped into the pool, having to tread water to stay afloat, grinning at Loki who stood motionless beside her.

"No fair, you're way taller! Go deeper so you have to swim too."

Loki looked at her floating and then looked around, clearly puzzled.

"What is the point?"

"In what?"

"The water."

Darcy shrugged, "Well, you're just supposed to enjoy yourself. We're taking a break from work - it's supposed to be relaxing. Apparently you're not capable of having fun."

Loki laughed and eyed Darcy - the laughter sounded condescending.

"Relaxing is sleeping on a pool chair. And I'm the only one taking a break from work, you just watch me work and think that you're working."

His voice lacked playfulness completely, and Darcy didn't know if the statement was meant in jest or not. Regardless, it was still hilarious because he was standing in the middle of the pool looking like a drowned rat.

Trying to ignore the statement, she turned around to paddle for the beach ball that had since rolled back into the water. Before she was a meter away from Loki, she felt herself being yanked back to him by her ponytail. She turned around to instinctively slap him, but he caught her wrist - he was stronger and she had no momentum since she was trying really hard to stay afloat.

"What the hell did you do that for? That's my hair, you don't pull that."

Loki shrugged, "Really? I could have pulled it a lot harder."

"Is there any reason in particular that you just did that?"

Darcy sounded genuinely enraged, which only caused the mirth on Loki's face to grow.

"You were trying to ignore me. You're supposed to respond. It's not fun if you don't respond."

Darcy tugged her wrist away from him, and considered just leaving the pool. She was fairly convinced, however, that if she turned around she was get the same hair yanking treatment.

"I don't know what you mean sometimes - you sound like an asshole but I don't know if you mean it or not. I guess you're getting better... but you really piss me off sometimes."

Loki flashed a dangerous smile that almost made Darcy shiver. "Good! I like you when you're angry."

Before she could yell at him again, the pool water rushed to accommodate the space his was standing in as he disappeared. Darcy punched the water where he had occupied seconds earlier and climbed out of the pool, angry commentary rolling through her head as she stomped childishly back to her room.

o

Loki still found Earth clothes ridiculous - more often than not he found himself missing his fur trimmed cloak and shades of deep green. He was sure they'd show him where to find more clothes eventually, but for now he was just wearing what they had been able to find on short notice. He put on his jacket and tried to think of a person - a person in particular - and found himself materializing into a pub in California. The bar was low ceilinged and without windows - it must have been underground or very snugly tucked away. He scanned the place quickly for his target - there were only two men in the whole bar, both smoking and chatting. Loki spotted which of the men he was looking for - he was wearing a hoodie and sunglasses, but Loki found him painfully easy to recognize none the less. He was surprised no one else did.

"Loki! Wonderful to finally meet you in the flesh, and on such short notice, too. What can I get ya?"

Loki looked around the room, and then back to the man.

"Gin and tonic."

Loki's host signaled the bartender.

"A gin and tonic for my friend. And I'll take scotch."

He smiled to Loki with a flash of white teeth.

"Gin is fine, but I've always been more of a scotch man myself."

o

"Where have you been?"

Darcy practically yelled before Loki had even taken a step after materializing back in his own room. Her screech made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

"Why are you in my room?"

Darcy's hair was still wet and hung limply around her shoulders, and he could see the wet bikini she was still wearing soaking through her shirt. He'd been gone for hours, did she stay in the pool all day or something?

"I wanted to kill you, and you weren't anywhere. I asked everyone, and couldn't find you. I knew that if you were anywhere around here you would have realized how hard I was looking, and at least tell me to stop looking for you. Which lead me to believe that you were elsewhere with your mind completely focused on something else."

Loki sighed. _For someone who isn't me she can be REALLY smart sometimes... good thing she doesn't realize it most of the time_. He put his hands on her shoulders, looking at her straight on.

"Darcy, I was just having a walk outside along the road. I felt like getting away. I'm back now."

Darcy crossed her arms, shrugging him off.

"You're supposed to be the king of lies, aren't you? Work a bit harder - I almost believed you, except you stink of gin."

Loki felt like an unfaithful husband being caught by his wife - except Darcy was nothing of the sort to him and had absolutely no right to interrogate him.

"Darcy, maybe you should go and do some work."

He said, his face mirthless. He took a step back from her and took off his jacket, walking over to the closet to hang it up.

"You always try and make me feel stupid, it's really aggravating."

"You're not stupid Darcy, it's just not your place to question me. You should leave, I need to take a shower. We'll get breakfast tomorrow."

She was suddenly up close to him, smelling him.

"You smell like a fucking bar, that's why you need a shower. What, did you have some secret rendezvous? Who was she?"

She smelled like chlorine and dried flowers and spice, her scent flooding him as she invaded his space.

"If you don't tell me what you've been doing, I'll tell Jane that you've been out of the base I'll tell her-"

"Darcy if you don't stop talking right now I'll wipe your moment of this whole conversation. I like you, I'd rather not, but I can do it."

Much to his surprise she actually stopped talking. The gin had admittedly gone to his head a little bit, but it took the edge off of the situation and made Darcy's harping much more tolerable. He took a step away from her and took off his jacket, throwing it onto the chair.

"Do you know what makes humans so magical?"

Darcy looked around the room and then back to him, confused.

"You're all imperfect. Unpredictable. You're not like us gods - I'm the only unpredictable god. I'm probably one of the most intelligent beings in the universe and I still have no idea what's going on in your head half the time. It's incredibly attractive, and never dull."

Darcy continued to say nothing, a slightly puzzled expression on her face. Loki surveyed her again and flexed his hands, loosening his tie.

"And I want you, constantly. It's like a game in my head. I watch you, I spy on you, I see how long I can ignore you. Do you understand what I mean?"

"You spy on me?"

"Oh yes, all the time. You're maddening."

Loki put his feet up on his desk and leaned back in his chair. He knew that she was entitled to absolutely nothing, and he only had to tell her as much as he wanted to...

"But I'll never touch you, don't worry. I like the game we're playing here, I don't really want to ruin that because it's one of the only things keeping me from finding myself some trouble. It's incredibly hard - to stay sane like this. I've convinced you thoroughly that I'm changing, that there's no evil in my heart.. but that's a lie."

"What are you saying? Why? I don't understand..."

Darcy asked, looking slightly scared.

"Shut up, I'm not done. One of the only things that's stopping me from setting everything on fire or turning this whole place to dust before moving on with my life is you - I don't want to hurt you. If I were you I would feel either very good about that, or very scared. Your choice. Every second here is a constant battle with a voice in my head. You should probably know that."

Darcy sat down on his bed, resting her head in her hands.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you messing with me. I've been sitting here for hours waiting for you to come home because i didn't know if you head run away for died and I didn't know if you'd ever come back and I was so scared… so scared…"

Loki stood up and went over to her, sitting down on the bed beside her.

"It honestly did not cross my mind that you may have been worried, I did not take that into consideration. I apologize."

"Yeah, you apologize. And now you've filled my head with all of this pseudo-sexual crap about wanting and not wanting me and looking at me like I'm some sort of creature you can't touch. I'm not looking for a game here, Loki. I know that you are, and that's just who you are. But that's not what I want, I'm sick of men like you."

"Darcy, I'm not sure why it's so hard for you to understand… but I'm not the kind of man you want to know."

There was a long silence in which Darcy appeared to be considering something.

"Wipe my mind."

"What?"

"Wipe my mind. You're drunk and you've told me all of this shit I'd really rather not know. In my head you're sweet and funny and getting better with each day. I don't want to know what you just told me."

"But Darcy-"

"I don't care. Do it. And then send me to bed."

Loki sighed and turned to the girl, touching her face and running his hand down her cheek.

"Darcy Lewis I wish you knew what you do to me.."

"I'm sure I'll find out one day, preferably in a more eloquent way."

With a last smile he felt her go limp in his arms, her mind wiped. He picked her up and carried her to her room, undressing her and putting her into the bed. He went back to him room feeling slightly foolish and rather uncomfortable - but Darcy was right: some things were just better left unsaid.


	7. Jane and Tonic

A/N: Enjoy your shameless fan service chapter.

**Things Left Unsaid**

**By: Thessaly Corgin (Corgin) **

**Chapter 7: Jane and Tonic**

o

It was a warm night in early July, and Loki's two month anniversary of living on Earth had just passed. Life in research facility had been blissful, almost nostalgic - it reminded him of his childhood, before he realized how much his father was pampering his brother. Jane was pleasant, everyone else was tolerable, Erik didn't give him an inch, and Darcy was divine, as usual. Day in, day out he read his books and chatted like a fool and went wherever he wanted to in the evening - on the occasion, California. The space in the cabinet under his sink was stocked full of gin, and he had almost convinced Darcy that he naturally smelled slightly like alcohol.

Loki lay on the floor of the roof, his back propped up against one of the chimneys, gazing out across the seemingly endless desert, gin and tonic resting in his hand. His eyes were half closed, and he was starting to feel like he was going to fall asleep. Tonight had been a party to celebrate the end of the winter quarter of work, along with the start of the summer, even though the hot weather had started well over a month ago. People he'd never even seen before were there taking advantage of the open bar and eating the much nicer than usual food. Loki's head buzzed from countless glasses of champagne - _were they trying to get me drunk?_ Loki wondered, remembering how Darcy and Jane fiendishly handed him glass after glass. His usual portion of alcohol was 'just enough to take the edge off', and he had definitely exceeded that tenfold. Having his own gin and tonic every now and then didn't help the matter and... his mind trailed off as he nodded off to sleep.

o

Jane and Darcy were sitting down at one of the unoccupied tables in the food hall. The whole place was flooded with conversation and the buzz of voices, and the volume was only escalating as the night went on. Darcy looked slightly worried.

"Okay honestly, I'm worried he's wandered off and died of alcohol poisoning. Did you see how much he managed to drink? I'm fairly sure I counted three bottles of champagne and two bottles of gin."

Jane laughed and passed Darcy another glass of champagne.

"Honestly, if you're still worrying about him, you're not drunk enough. Look at all of the hot guys who worke here - I never even noticed before."

Darcy rolled her eyes - Jane had been putting on an act for months about checking out all the 'hot guys', as if she was desperately trying to prove she was over Thor. Darcy knew better. She looked around and wasn't impressed. _What was he wearing? _Thoughts seemed to be dropping out of her head as she tried to hold onto them.

"So have you guys hooked up yet?"

Jane asked seriously. They held eye contact for about three seconds before Jane started laughing hysterically. _Goodbye docile, shy Jane, hello drunk Jane!_ Darcy thought. It had only happened a couple of times since she'd met Jane, but when she drank enough she became a force of nature.

"That's a highly inappropriate question."

Darcy responded, looking away.

"Is that a yes or a no? Come on, I'm dying for some gossip here."

"Jane, honestly. Have you slept with anyone since Thor left?"

Jane immediately stopped smiling, her expression becoming detached. Darcy got up and barged through the mass of people in the room, determined to find Loki. Mentioning Thor was a bit of a low blow, but Jane was only heading towards being more annoying. Darcy's vision was slightly loopy as she walked down the hall towards Loki's room. Upon finding that he wasn't there, she assumed that he had gone outside for some air or something. Once outside she realized that the roof was probably her best bet. She stumbled along to the side of the building with the ladder. She looked up. _Bad idea Darcy. Not sober. Don't do it._ She started up the ladder. She was almost at the top when her hand slipped, and she fell. _Oh god oh god going to die going to be paralyzed going to break my neck going to -_ Darcy realized that she wasn't actually falling, but was suspended in the air. Loki's head peeked up from the top of the roof.

"Honestly Darcy, what made you think that was a good idea?"

She tried to move, and found she was stuck. _Cool. _Loki pulled her up to the top, and she sat down right away once her feet touched the roof. Once Loki's magic had let her go, Loki collapsed, and started laughing.

"Oh I - don't think I'm supposed supposed to do that when I'm - I've perhaps had too much to drink to do that."

Darcy was confused, "What are you talking about?"

"All of my power as a god - it's all in my head. All of my magic uses my head."

Darcy understood what he was implying - or maybe she didn't - and started laughing too. Suddenly she frowned.

"I dropped my champagne glass when I fell."

"No worries!"

Loki said, flicking his hands quickly. A bottle of champagne had appeared in front of them. He collapsed again and was laughing.

"Whoa, I didn't know you could do that. You'd be a damn fine magician."

Loki continued to laugh as he tried to pick himself up off the ground and failed.

"I was- I was aiming for two glasses as well, but nothing's working properly right now, it's magnificent."

Darcy inspected the bottle, passing it to Loki.

"It has a cork in it, you should take it out."

Loki, who had just managed to get himself onto his knees, waved away the bottle.

"Hold the bottle. If I do, I'll drop it once I uncork it."

Darcy pulled the bottle back, pointing it away from them, off of the roof. The cork fired out peacefully, and Loki collapsed again with laughter. Darcy took a swig of the champagne.

"Why are you laughing like an idiot? You hardly ever smile, let alone laugh that hard."

Loki rolled onto his back, trying to regain his breath.

"Every time I - I do that I get flash backs from other times this has happened and they're a mixture of painful, embarrassing and just... funny."

"This has happened before?"

Loki crawled over to a chimney and propped himself against it, faced out towards the desert.

"What do you mean? Of course it's happened."

"Oh, I just mean - you don't strike me as the type to-"

"Honestly Darcy - I'm over five hundred years old. It's bound to happen some time. I'm also _the god of mischief - _I've gotten myself into a fair amount of trouble."

Darcy walked over and sat down next to Loki, passing him the bottle of champagne. He took a swig of it.

"When was the first time?"

Loki leaned his head against the steel chimney behind him.

"I was very young - I guess you would say a teenager... maybe early teen. My brother and his friends switched whatever I was drinking at the time with something a little... stronger. Needless to say, the next morning Thor and the lot were laughing hysterically and my father was trying to figure out how I managed to obliterate three rooms in the palace."

"Oh - that's terrible! I can't believe Thor would do that."

"Oh, there are a lot of things he's done that you wouldn't believe. I gave you my story, now you give me yours. Come on."

He took another swig - half of the bottle was gone already. Darcy looked at the sky and laughed.

"Oh god, and was a while ago. It was Toby Ashby's party, in the town I grew up in our parents practically let us do what we wanted to. I was so innocent, and so excited. Toby was what? 18 or so, and I was 15. Getting invited to his party was a pretty big thing."

Darcy suddenly seemed detached. She grabbed the bottle from Loki and started drinking.

"What happened?

Loki asked, knowing that she had just unlocked something she didn't want to think about.

"We had sex in the back of Toby's truck. He wasn't very nice about it, and it was my first time so it wasn't really great. He never talked to me again."

Loki grabbed the bottle from her and drained the rest of the champagne, before making a new, already uncorked bottle appear at Darcy's feet. She was happy to take a swig of it. Her mind was already swimming in circles. Loki didn't respond.

"What about your first time?"

Darcy asked.

"Doing what?"

"Sex."

Loki opened his mouth and closed it. Darcy crossed her arms.

"Come on, I told you a story, you tell me one."

"There's no story to tell."

"Oh come on this isn't - wait are you serious?"

He looked away from her, grabbing the bottle in the process.

"How old are you again? Haha holy shit, I thought these things 'are bound to happen.'"

Darcy started laughed. Loki averted eye contact, continuously taking swigs of the champagne.

"Because holy shit dude, that explains _so _much about you. I mean you always act so charming, I just assumed you knew women-"

"Quiet. I never said I didn't know women."

"Oh but come on, seriously. Do you even know what to do?"

Loki was blushing furiously. He looked at Darcy.

"I - of course I do. I just never found myself in a situation where it seemed like a good idea."

"What does that mean?"

"My... girlfriend was undesirable."

"Oh, right. You wanted Thor's girlfriend. What made her so great anyways?"

Loki narrowed his eyes.

"She was... unpredictable. She was a harvest goddess who stood up for herself, who wanted to be a warrior.

Darcy took another swig of the champagne.

"Did you ever tell her that you liked her?"

"Of course. The first time, she laughed at me and told my brother. I told her again, years later when Thor was away. She laughed in my face. So one night, and cut off all of her hair. It was long and golden, I remember that. I thought that was going to be my last stunt, that maybe I'd be done with her. Of course she was horrified the next morning, so she ran to my mother and told my mother. They were able to replace the lost hair with some hair they bought from the dwarves - long, raven black hair. Unfortunately, it made her even more beautiful. She's hated me ever since."

Darcy was speechless. She handed the champagne to Loki, assuming that he'd need it. Loki took a swig and shook his head. Darcy laughed.

"First of all - weirdest story ever. I'm never letting you near my hair ever. Second of all... she was your brother's _girlfriend._ That isn't something you're supposed to steal."

The night was dead silent around them, and in the distance they could hear the music of the staff party that was still going on. Loki instantly felt the change of space between himself and Darcy, and felt panic rising underneath the numb barrier of alcohol. The panic was normal - it was happening more and more as Darcy slowly began to push the boundaries of their friendship. He had absolutely no idea how to deal with the prospect of intimacy, so he chose to avoid it all together. Darcy let out an audible sigh.

"What am I to you, Loki?"

"You're my best friend, you know that. We've had this discussion."

"What else?"

Loki was silent. This was usually the point in the conversation that he removed himself, forcefully or otherwise. He was supposed to be the best liar of them all, but he could never bring himself to lie to her. Omit truth, yes. But saying something that was just completely untrue?

"Come on, what else?"

"Object of my desire, I don't know, what do you want me to say?"

He stood up and walked a few paces away, leaning against another steel chimney.

"I want you to say what you mean."

"I just did. You're lucky I'm really quite drunk, or you'd be trying my patience. You know I have no interests in conversations such as these."

Darcy stood up, and started walking towards him. She stopped after take a few steps, and looked unsteady. Loki had his arms crossed.

"I, oh man... standing up after drinking that must champagne is kind of... whoa."

"I know, I just did that."

"Why are you getting all short with me all of the sudden?"

Loki walked over to her.

"I'm not being short, you just know my boundaries. They don't change, even when I'm intoxicated."

The sudden closeness seemed to shock him. He lifted up a piece of her hair, running his fingers through it.

"You do have nice hair, Darcy..."

"If I wake up and my hair's gone I - I'm going to be angry." she slurred.

She looked up at him, and he looked down at her, a half smile on his face. He knew exactly what that look on her face meant. For a second he felt his self control waver as he put his arms around her. Snapping back into reality, he was glad that his height gave him complete control over the situation - unless Darcy jumped, she wasn't getting anywhere near his lips. He mentally slapped himself for being the one who broke the boundaries that he had set up in the first place. At least he still had control - when he was in control of the situation, things always went perfectly. If it got out of control... well, he was the king of chaos for a reason. Darcy had rested her head on his chest, and he shook her lightly.

"Darcy... I think it's time you went to bed."

He received no response from her. He shook her a few more times, and still she remained thoroughly asleep. His childish amusement at the fact that she had passed out on him quickly diminished when he realized that he would have to find a way to get her off of the roof.

"Wake up Darcy... I'm going to take you back to your room..."

The thought of the drunk girl climbing down the ladder worried him. What worried him more was that he wasn't much better off than she was at that point. Standing there wasn't getting them anywhere, so he swung her up into his arms and walked over to the edge of the roof. The fall wasn't _that _far for him, he was much sturdier than a human - however, he didn't know how well Darcy would do if the jump went awry. Without a hint of fear he jumped - was it the alcohol or the god like courage? - and started to slowly lower himself to the ground with magic. He was only half way down when he felt the magic reject his intoxicated mind and release him, sending him tumbling the rest of the way to the ground. He landed flat on his back with Darcy on top of him. Memories flickered in his head and flashbacks loomed as he squeezed his eyes tightly and held Darcy close. She didn't wake through the whole ordeal. When Loki regained his composure and picked her up again, he couldn't help but marvel at how densely she was sleeping.

"Never giving her that much alcohol again..."

He mumbled, suddenly feeling quite bitter. He made a mental note to ignore Darcy for few days in case she awoke under the impression that he felt any more warmth than usual towards her. He walked passed the security guards - who paid little attention to him - into the main entrance of the building, where he was confronted by Jane. She laughed at the sight - Loki's face was marked with dirt and his hair was messy, as if he had fallen over, and Darcy was asleep like a baby in his arms.

"She fell asleep and-" Loki started,

"Don't want to hear it. Go put her to bed and come back down here, you don't look like you're sleeping any time soon and I wanted to ask you a few things."

Loki sighed and continued walking over to the elevator, as tackling the stairs really didn't seem like a good idea. Jane was right - he wasn't tired at all. His mind was buzzing and his senses were sharp. He hesitated before opening the door to Darcy's room - ever since her initial temper tantrums he had been careful about respecting her space (well... as far as she knew) and walking into her room always made him uncomfortable. Realizing how stupid the slight fear was, he opened the door and walked in. The room was a basic mirror of his, except she had added strange personal touches everywhere - her blanket was dark purple and she had removed most of the chairs from the room. Her desk was practically unused - only a single book sat on it: _Loki in Scandinavian Mythology_. Loki raised his eyebrow curiously - it was a book he had chosen not to read a month before. Trying not to step on the scattered clothes she had left all over the ground, he triumphantly placed her in the bed and tucked her in. Not interested in staying a second longer, he promptly left the room and returned to the entrance of the building where Jane was waiting. Jane motioned for him to follow.

A gap in his memory brought him and Jane to the crash site that he and his brother had arrived at - he really _did_ go a little over the top with the drinking if he couldn't remember the car ride. They got out of the truck and sat on the ground. Jane was quiet for a moment, and then she ruffled through her bag and brought out cigarettes and a lighter. For the second time that night Loki raised an eyebrow - he had no idea Jane smoked. Jane lit both cigarettes and passed one to Loki. He had already guessed what she was going to harass him about this time. He made note that she was quite drunk herself and - wait, did they drive here with her like that? - Loki felt a sudden pang of dread.

"Do you even know what it's like to lose someone you love?"

She said accusingly. It was a topic that the two of them had lightly tiptoed around since their first encounter.

"In one way or another, yes. We've discussed this already, months ago - it's not something we're going to get into."

Jane shook her head, and opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, before closing it again. She had a look of incomprehension and sadness as she looked at the Norse runes that were still on the ground from months prior when Loki arrived. She found her words.

"I chased him at the start. Every storm that was slightly abnormal, I followed it praying that it might be him."

Loki took a drag of the cigarette and said nothing, knowing silence was the wisest choice.

"Why did you do it?"

Jane asked. Jane had never quite grasped exactly how everything had played out. Loki found the internal politics of Asgard painful easy to understand and exploit, but Jane could hardly even understand the most basic concepts.

"I haven't decided yet."

"What do you mean you haven't decided yet?"

"With each decision stems two motives. A motive that seems noble, and a motive that seems evil. Understanding which one entered your mind first is a complex task - I don't bother with it. I decide for myself."

Jane looked at the sky.

"So what are the choices?"

At a much later date, Loki would blame his loose tongue at the time on his alcohol consumption. Deeper down, though, he knew he was telling her because the burden of it hurt. He couldn't tell Darcy because she was too air headed and innocent - he still wondered if she even realized that he had tried to kill them.

"I did it because I wanted my father to respect me. For once in my life I wanted to feel loved above Thor. Everyone in the kingdom looks at him as if he's some prodigy - he's the wonder child. I wanted to feel like I was the best son. Or at least, his equal."

The sorrow on Loki's face made Jane look away from him - his eyes were shining.

"What's the evil motive?"

Suddenly, the sorrow snapped out of Loki's face and a dangerous smile flickered in the corner of his mouth. He turned to look at her with his envious green eyes - envious of all they see, flashing like lightning and reflecting his mirth.

"Because it sounded like fun. And I thought I could get away with it... and I almost did."

Jane shivered violently. He looked away from her, but even as he averted eye contact she could see the smile living in the corner of his mouth. She was thankful that he didn't retain any of his godly powers - she didn't want to see what he was like with the ability to wield magic. She had no doubt that the second he tapped into it their research facility would be destroyed. Loki flicked his cigarette butt away and stood up.

"We're going home. I shouldn't have agreed to come out here in the first place, conversation about my brother or any relating subjects simply upsets you. We'll just have the same conversation over and over again - it's redundant."

He quickly touched her mind to remove her intoxication, collapsing back onto the ground as he did so. He was _really _getting sick of falling over tonight. Jane grasped her head at the sudden sober rush of thoughts. She looked at Loki, who was picking himself up off the ground.

"Oh god... you..you did that, didn't you?"

Loki looked at her with his trademark unreadable bland expression, a hint of a smile. He motioned towards the car, and began walking towards it. He turned around to face Jane.

"Tell Erik, or anyone else, and I'll kill you. It's probably best you don't think about it, or I'll have to wipe your mind."

His words were sharp and toneless, but Jane could tell he meant what he was saying. He turned his back to her and walked over to the passenger side of the truck, jumping in. Reluctantly, Jane drove the pair home. Loki was mildly upset at that point that his mental abilities didn't extend to reading minds, because he had no idea if Jane was going to run off and tell someone in a higher position what had happened or not. He decided to let her go, because if it came down to it he could blame any claims on her state of intoxication. He couldn't remember how, but Loki somehow ended up in his bed.

Upon waking in the morning, Loki wanted nothing more than to put his head back under his pillow. He rarely slept in, and he was basically immune to the effects of hangovers, but he couldn't help but feel that he had done something terribly, terribly wrong. He tried to remember it all - there were holes all over the night that he couldn't quite put together. He stood up, got dressed and walked over to Darcy's room. Not awake enough to fear going into her room, he went in and sat on the edge of the bed. Her alarm clock was still going off from 10 minutes before, and she was buried under the blankets. Loki turned off the clock.

"Are you okay?"

He asked, worried that she was still in an alcoholic slumber from the night before. She popped out from under the blankets, looking incredibly annoyed.

"Go away. I feel like shit."

"Well, yes, I thought you would after last night so-"

"Go away."

"You don't mean that."

One things about Loki Darcy was always thankful for was that he knew when to leave. You didn't need to ask him twice to get out of your hair, he'd practically be gone before you asked the first time. If you didn't actually want him to leave, though, he'd know to stay. Darcy sat up in bed,

"You smell like cheap gin and cigarettes. Your face is dirty and you need a shower."

Loki rolled his eyes, "Tell them to buy nicer gin next time, and I'll see what I can do."

Darcy reached up and hugged Loki tightly. Again, the sudden closeness surprised Loki. Reluctantly, Loki hugged her back, running a hand through her hair. Loki sighed lightly - he was going to have to set up all new boundaries surrounding their friendship, or things would get out of hand quickly.

o

**PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: DON'T SELF MEDICATE YOUR MELANCHOLY DEPRESSION WITH ALCOHOL. EVEN IF IT IS DELICIOUS GIN. **


	8. A Taste of Home

**Things Left Unsaid**

**By: Thessaly Corgin (Corgin)**

**Chapter 8: A Taste of Home**

o

Loki awoke with a start to the sound of Jane and Darcy yelling outside his door. Their voices sounded frantic and by the sound of it, Darcy was running in and out of her room. He looked at the clock - it was 4:30 in the morning. What are they on about...? He thought, getting dressed so he could go and inquire about the noise. As he was walking for the door Darcy burst in.

"Storm. STORM. You have three minutes to be outside or we're leaving without you."

She was gone as quickly as she came. Jane had been on edge lately - she had been receiving a fair amount of strange electromagnetic interference. Loki wouldn't have worried, but he was curious about the source considering it wasn't him for once. He threw the living essentials into his bag (he could always just teleport back if he needed anything else, right?) and put the bag over his shoulder, walking out the door. Once outside he could definitely agree with comments about the weather others had been making - the early October air was a little nippier than the hot summer nights he was getting used to... not that it mattered, considering he was a naturally cold being.

"Get in the truck!"

Darcy yelled. Loki never understood why everyone yelled all the time - things were accomplished much quicker if they were all just calm. He climbed in and they drove off. Loki looked out of the back of the truck at the caravan they were towing. Erik and Jane, who were further ahead of them on the road were also towing one. They had been out on day trips before to check out nearby storms, but they had never been this geared up.

"Where are we going?"

He asked, feeling slightly inadequate for his lack of driving skill. It wasn't a skill he ever planned on learning - he had no interest in cars whatsoever and had no use for the inferior mode of transportation, but he still felt slightly useless when a lot of driving had to be done. Darcy yawned.

"About two days of driving ahead of us. Apparently something landed, and SHIELD called Jane and told us to get it. She wants to examine whatever it was and see if there's any radiation or residue. She couldn't exactly take samples off of you, and you were the last thing we found."

Loki sunk down in his seat and closed his eyes. He was half tempted to go back to his room and rejoin them when they stopped for the night, but he knew that Darcy would be upset. They were practically in constant company of each other all the time, and Darcy would become anxious if he disappeared.

"Why were you and Jane yelling so much?"

He asked, recalling the squabble that had woken him up. Darcy suddenly looked nervous. Months previous Loki had accidentally let his drinking get out of hand, causing him not only to use his powers in front of Jane, but threaten her in the process. Ever since that encounter Jane had been irritable and quick to get out of his way.

"Jane didn't want you to come on our little field trip. She still doesn't trust you for some reason... I said I wouldn't go without you, so our quiet chat quickly turned into yelling at each other."

Darcy looked slightly embarrassed and said the last sentence quickly. Loki couldn't imagine why she was so adamant of dragging him around everywhere, but he was grateful that she stood up for him this time - a change of scene sounded nice. Of course, he could have explored anywhere he wanted by himself (as he often did), but it wasn't quite the same as having some company and sharing a meal.

"I guess we are a little tight on room - sleeping arrangements are kind of messed up since we have four people and two trailers."

Loki snapped to attention, as he hated having his sleeping interrupted. He could function fine without sleep - an hour a week would probably do him fine, but it was a good way to kill time.

"Where am I sleeping?"

"Well, my trailer has a king sized bed, so you can have one half or that, or you can sleep across the seats in the truck."

Loki sighed quietly - he should have known she would pull something like this. He eyed up the seats in the truck, and found that they were definitely not 6'2" across, and if they were there wasn't much room to spare. He'd sort it out later, it wasn't worth the argument. Loki dozed off periodically and spent a fair amount of the drive thinking to himself. He was half way through a crossword when he was forced to break the silence.

"Five letter play boy known for his genius and wealth."

He didn't look up at Darcy and instead stayed focussed on the paper in front of him. Darcy always liked to give him a hard him about his failure to know the answers to the pop culture questions. Darcy laughed.

"Oh come on, that's way too easy. How do you not know that? A five year old would know that."

"I'm sorry, I don't concern myself with ridiculous and useless culture trivia. I doubt it could save my life some day."

Darcy laughed harder, and the car swerved a little bit.

"Strangely enough, this one could save your life one day. S-T-A-R-K. The answer is Tony Stark."

Loki wrote down the answer without thanks.

"I honestly doubt Iron Man will be saving my life any time soon. First of all, he lives in California if I recall correctly, second of all, I'm me. It's more likely I'd save his life."

Darcy just shrugged. She learned months prior that Loki would argue for the sake of having an argument, and he would always win, so it was better if she just ended it as early as possible.

"Oh! We're turning off to set up camp. Thank god, I'm starving."

Darcy followed Jane off of the road and parked her camper somewhere nearby. She handed Loki various boxes and instructed him to bring them over to Erik and Jane. He found that Jane was constructing a fire and Erik was setting up the little camping chairs, as well as pulling out pots and pans.

"Why are you making a fire to cook on? The caravans have stove tops."

He said blandly. Jane looked up at him with poison in her eyes.

"Because its more authentic. I'm leading this expedition, don't question me or I'll make you sleep with Darcy."

"I don't know the meaning of authenticity. I do know the meaning of comfort, though. You should think about it some time."

Was Loki's response. He found the night to be rather boring. Jane told some story about college that wasn't interesting in the slightest, Erik pointed out (completely inaccurately) what all of the stars in the sky meant, and Darcy told all of her Darcy stories, which Loki had already heard dozens of times since he was apparently her best friend. They made a hot, spicy stew over the fire that actually tasted quite good, and shared wine all around. Loki was making a substantial effort to be pleasant and upset no one with his wit or sarcastic remarks, and so far everyone had been happy.

"Tell a story, Loki! Tell a story!"

Loki looked at his colleagues.

"I'm afraid I have no stories to tell."

"Oh, come on. You practically grew up in a city made of gold, that's exciting. Tell us something about that."

Loki thought for a moment, trying to find a story that everyone might actually enjoy. He didn't really understand Earth human, and the gods found entirely different things funny.

"I made a bet, once, with a dwarf. In order to win the bet I tried absolutely everything to throw him off and turn it to my favor. Despite my best efforts the dwarf, Brokk, won, and be came to claim his prize. Not expecting to lose I had wagered my head. Brokk decided to spare me, but as a punishment he sewed my mouth shut with a leather string. Thor held me down and the rest of Asgard watched and laughed."

As a reflex, Loki lightly touched his mouth. The other three just looked at him, slightly shocked with awkward silence.

"Honestly that's the most amusing story I have."

Again, there was another awkward silence, until Erik checked his watch.

"Well, I think it's time to head to bed. We have to get up early tomorrow. Get out of here, Darcy and I will cover the fire with sand."

Loki stood up and began to walk away, but felt Jane grab his wrist.

"Did he really do that to you?"

She asked with fierce eye contact. Loki nodded with nonchalance.

"Yes. It wasn't too long ago, maybe fifty years ago?"

"Did you deserve it?"

Again, Loki gave the same nod.

"Probably."

The look on Jane's face became slightly resigned as well as upset. Loki sighed lightly and turned to face her completely.

"Look, there's something you're not understanding about me - about my people. We're gods, and we live by a different set of rules. Growing up I've been almost beaten to death by Thor with both fists and words, and still our relationship as brothers was relatively okay for a while. Being a god doesn't mean that we're perfect - a lot of us are a reflection of the people who worship us. We still rape, kill, torture and break hearts - unfortunately it's just who we are. And so far as I understand, that's just who you lot are as well... so don't let what Thor's done to me effect how you feel for him at all."

Jane let go of his wrist and dropped eye contact.

"Thor was lucky to have someone like you as a brother."

Was all she said before retiring to her caravan, walking briskly away Loki. Loki looked at the sky and looked around at the dark hills in the midnight light, before he started to walk towards the truck. He was almost to his quite, peaceful little refuge when Darcy yelled at him.

"Hey!" She said running up to him, "Where are you going?"

"To the truck. To sleep."

He saw a flicker of disappointment flash across her eyes.

"You don't want to sleep in the caravan? The truck doesn't look very comfortable..."

"No. I don't want to sleep in a bed with you."

Loki watched all of the emotion drain from her expression - it almost made him smile. Humans really were far too easy to read.

"Oh. Okay then. I just thought you'd want to chat after that story..."

"Oh, let me guess. You think I'm feeling all emotional and upset about my sob story life so now I want to talk it all out with you and cry into your chest while you hold me?"

Darcy stood speechless for a moment, her mouth open. The words she finally decided on were,

"You're a dick."

Which she declared loudly before storming off. With a smile Loki walked over to the truck with his hands in his pockets.

o

Darcy got into the caravan and slammed the door, absolutely furious. Who did he think he was, talking to her like that? Who cares if she likes him, he shouldn't be able to treat her that way! She began to angrily undress, throwing on one of Loki's t-shirts to sleep in. Hey, it's free pajamas.

"My... you're a pretty one. It seems the ice prince chooses his company well..."

A voice like shattering ice thundered through the caravan. Darcy whipped around to see the most terrifying thing she had ever seen in her life: It was cramped by the low ceiling, set in a low crouch. It had red eyes that looked shot with blood and deep blue skin with rippling muscles underneath. As it - he? - shifted his weight his armor crackled, and every time he breathed Darcy was met with a gust of freezing air, small shards of ice developing in her hair and on her clothes. He smiled a huge, ugly smile.

"You look so confused, girl. Hasn't our little prince told you about his origins?"

"L-Loki?" She asked tentatively. The giant gave a nod, his smile still intact. "He's a god!" Darcy shouted at the creature. "He was born in Asgard."

The giant's bellowing laugh seemed to shake the caravan.

"Good to see the King of Lies is living up to his title, then. I was expecting to find him here, but I'm sure you'd be willing to deliver a message for me..."

As the giant took a step forward Darcy took a step back, slipping on the frost and landing on the ground, pinned into a corner by her bed.

"Tell him that his disgusting attempt at genocide did not go unnoticed. There''s nothing more pathetic than a man desperately trying to destroy his own people - not just our armies, but our innocents: women, children."

"How are you even here?" Darcy demanded, becoming delirious, "This is Earth, you don't belong here."

He smiled again, his yellow teeth shining like dirty spears.

"Jotunheim, Midgard... with the tricks your... friend... taught us it's all the same. I must go, so tell him - we'll be around, waiting for the moment to do to him what he tried to do to us. We won't just kill him, we'll kill each and every person he's ever loved... so you should stay wary as well..."

Yet again, the giant laughed, but Darcy failed to find the joke. With an all-too-familiar shift of air in the camper, the giant was gone and there was only empty space in front of her.

Hardly a heartbeat after the beasts disappearance, Loki appeared in the middle of the caravan, slightly crouched down and with glowing, alert eyes. He was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt, and looked more excited than Darcy had ever seen him. He ran from one end of the trailer to the other, opening the closets and looking underneath the table.

"Where is it?"

He snapped at Darcy with an accusing tone. He didn't wait for an answer.

"I felt it- I know it's here, it was using my frequencies to travel. Was it someone from Asgard? Has someone come to ask me to come home?"

He glanced around again, opening the door and jumping outside, before jumping back in again. His energetic bout ended and the excited buzz he was letting off disappeared when he saw Darcy. Pushed into a corner by the bed, she was crying into her knees, her arms wrapped around them. Her hair was wet with melting frost and she was only wearing her sleeping t-shirt and underwear, all of which was also holding crystals of gradually melting ice. He darted over to her and shook her shoulder.

"Darcy... Darcy tell me what it was. I want to know what happened."

Darcy looked at him, her eyes shot with terror, and pushed him away. Loki, in all of his excitement, could feel his patience wearing very thin, which cased him to pick her up off of the ground and sit her roughly on the bed.

"Damn it, Darcy, stop being unreasonable. I need you to tell-"

"He was h-huge and I don't even know how he fit into the caravan."

"I'm going to assume he was also blue with red eyes?"

Darcy, who finally seemed to be calming down, gulped nodded. What the hell was a frost giant doing here? He was either very, very lost, or knew exactly where he was going.

"He wants r-revenge. He s-said you tried to kill all of his people... all of the innocent people... your own kind."

Loki hissed at the last comment, narrowing his eyes as he tried to think of who might send such a despicable beast after him. He met Darcy's confused expression. She reached out and touched his arm lightly, before moving to his cheek. He sat dead still and tried not to shiver at the touch of her hot skin.

"I never noticed how cold you are..."

She said quietly. Not for the first time in his life, Loki was wishing desperately that he would acquire the ability to read minds - he wanted to know if she was beginning to connect the dots of his racial lineage or not. In his deep thought he hardly noticed the weight of her body or hand in his hair as Darcy kissed him. He was taken completely surprise, and one could almost say that it was consensual for a few seconds before Loki flinched and pushed her away roughly.

"Damn it, Darcy. It's... what, it's.. hardly the time for that - someone or something wants me dead, and probably wants you dead too."

Darcy, who was clutching the blanket on the bed as if it were a stuff animal, looked tearful. Loki realized that her lipstick was smudged, and wiped his own mouth with the back of his hand, frowning at the lipstick he found transferred onto his hand. He suddenly realized exactly how harsh he had sounded to her and felt slightly embarrassed.

"Look, I - I didn't mean it like that... I.. I'm leaving. I'll know if your unwelcome visitor comes back, don't worry."

Before Loki could make a speedy getaway Darcy sniffed again and burst into tears.

"Don't leave..." Darcy sobbed, "Oh please don't leave..."

Loki looked at the crying girl speechlessly, his mouth hanging open as he tried to find the right thing to say, his thoughts racing. He knew that it was irresponsible to leave her, but also felt that it would be equally irresponsible to stay - he chose to sleep in the truck for a reason, after all. Damn it, he was practically the God of Evil and he didn't have it in him to leave a crying girl. He stood up and grabbed a chair, sitting down beside the bed.

"I won't leave. I won't leave you."

He said brushing her hair out of her eyes with his fingers, and covering her with the blanket. Slowly her sobs became quieter and her breathing more rhythmic as she began to doze off into a hopefully restful sleep. Loki's last words before he himself fell asleep were barely above the sound a whisper:

"I'm not leaving. Not... leaving..."

And for once in his life, Loki was actually telling the truth.


	9. Assault

A/N - I think that the hilarity of this pair is in their drastic height difference. It's kind of hard to have to characters make eye contact when they're right in front of each other and he literally looks over the top of her head. Thank you for the wonderful comments, they always make my day :)

**Things Left Unsaid**

**By: Thessaly Corgin (Corgin)**

**Chapter 9: Assault**

o

"There's something wrong with him, he hasn't moved since we got back."

"And why are you complaining to me about it?"

Darcy sat down on a desk in Jane's office.

"I don't know, you're the boss around here, people are supposed to listen to you."

Jane laughed without looking up from her work.

"Me? The boss? Yeah right. Just go in his room and sit on his bed or something, eventually he'll have to turn around."

"You don't understand. He only sleeps when he wants to. He'll outlast me and then move me once I doze off."

Jane sighed and realized how aggravated Darcy was actually becoming. It was cute.

"Look, if I go chat with him will you quit being so emotional about it?"

Darcy stood up quickly.

"No, no, don't do that. Then he'll know that it's getting to me, and he'll think he's won or something."

"Good god, the two of you are like a middle school couple or something. I'm going to go and talk to him, don't worry, I won't mention that he's bothering you."

Jane put down her work and walked past Darcy, knowing that Darcy was actually relieved to have someone else dealing with it for her. Jane walked right into Loki's room without knocking, and found absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. Loki was at his desk reading, tapping his foot lightly to the music he was presumably listening to with headphones.

"Can you hear me?"

Loki didn't look up from his book.

"Of course I can hear you, do I look deaf? I could have this at maximum volume and I would be able to hear you perfectly. What do you want?"

Jane was surprised at how easily she received a response.

"Where did you get an ipod? Last time I checked Asgard doesn't have those."

"Asgard also doesn't have sickly cafeteria food or hair gel, but I seem to have access to those as well. Darcy gave it to me."

Jane was always surprised at how quickly Loki managed to wind her up - it was probably because he wasn't even looking up from his book.

"Darcy is what I'm here to talk to you about. You're bothering her."

"Wait, me? Bothering someone? You might go as far to say I'm the god of mischief or something!"

"You're no god here, Loki, you're just a little man."

Loki laughed once out loud and look up.

"A little man, sure. But I'm still taller than you. If I were Thor would you call me a little man?"

Loki hardly had to try and get rid of Jane - pretty much anything he said would make her leave the room. There was nothing worse than being stuck in a conversation where she wanted something, because he knew he could push the boundaries.

"Why are you avoiding Darcy?"

"Why did we turn back on our little mission?"

Jane mentally hit herself - she had played right into his trap. He was of course referring to their aborted foreign object retrieval mission a few weeks back. After only one night of camping they had turned back after being ordered to by SHIELD. Since then Loki had rarely left his room and seemed wary around everyone. Jane constantly wished he wasn't so god damned smart. She smirked.

"If you answer my question, I'll answer yours."

"She makes me uncomfortable." Loki answered without missing a beat. He raised an eyebrow and waited for Jane's response.

"Stark Industries. That's why we turned back - Stark wanted whatever it was and obviously had the money to get it."

The boredom in Loki's eyes instantly disappeared and was replaced by a lively sparkle. Jane quickly regretted giving the trickster the information, but still doubted he could do anything with it.

"Why does Darcy make you uncomfortable?"

Loki leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling, thinking for a moment.

"Have you noticed a difference in how she's been dressing in the last few weeks?"

Jane laughed out loud.

"I didn't notice, but that's probably because I'm not a guy. I assume she's trying to get some attention?"

Loki nodded slightly, blushing. Satisfied with the information, Jane left to report back to Darcy, and then hopefully get some work done. With any luck, she'd be able to convince Darcy to harass Loki herself.

o

Loki heard his door open and close. He was finding that whatever Darcy had originally told him about not walking into peoples room without knocking was apparently void when it came to his own personal space.

"You're in my room, why are you in my room..."

Loki mumbled without looking up with Darcy, who appeared quite flustered. Loki looked at her out of the corner of his eye and found that yet again she was unnecessarily scantily clad. He tried not to blush.

"I'm in your room because you're not coming out of it and I want to know why you're not talking to me."

Loki could tell that the words were coming straight from Jane's mouth, and that Jane had obviously encouraged Darcy to confront him herself. He swiveled his chair around to face her, looking her up and down. He decided to humor her, because he was feeling especially snarky.

"Tell me Darcy, what month is it?"

"November?"

"And it's not a little cold to be wearing those shorts?"

He stood up and walked up to her, looking down at her face. Loki appreciated that not matter how much power she had over him, he always had his threatening height over her. He lifted up her chin, inspecting her face.

"You're wearing make up other than lipstick. That's also new. Why are you doing that?"

She pushed his hand away and took a step back, showing Loki that he'd already caught her in his trap, and whatever he said now would just be for fun.

"You know what they used to say a century or so ago about women? They said that men should keep their women locked away, out of the public eye. The greatest virtue a woman could have is modesty, because without it men would not be able to control themselves. Women need to control their sexuality because men can't control theirs. Now - don't get me wrong. I'm not exactly a human male, I'm a god, and these opinions are dated and barbaric, but some part of them rings true. What exactly _are_ you trying to accomplish?"

Darcy looked down at herself, slightly stunned. "Wha- what?"

"Okay, in words I know you'll understand: why are you dressing like a slut?"

"I- you can't talk to me like that!"

He reached out and pulled her bra strap, snapping it back against her skin.

"You hardly need a push up bra, you're worse that Sif with that thing on."

"I look bad?"

"No. _No._ The opposite - I - this conversation is over. Go put some clothes on."

"Loki I think this is the rudest you've ever been to me. I'm _not_ going to change what I do or how I dress because you tell me to."

She attempted to shove Loki, which resulted in absolutely nothing happening. Despite his thin frame the Asgardian features of Loki's anatomy weighed him in at about four times Darcy's weight. Loki rolled his eyes and took her by the shoulders, crouching slightly to make eye contact.

"Look, being frank, I'm not going to sexually assault you." Loki almost thought he saw disappointment in Darcy, "but I'm not worried about myself. I'm worried about all of the men around here."

"Oh give me a break, no one's going to-"

"I just gave you advice as Loki the man who cares about your wellbeing. Now I'm going to give it as Loki the god. You can't sense evil in people, and let me say - I sure do. Whatever you're trying to accomplish isn't going to be accomplished so I advise you stop for the sake of self preservation."

Darcy gave him no response, so he slowly let go of her shoulders and took a step away from her. She sat down on his bed, looking profoundly sad. Loki sighed and sat down next to her.

"So you don't hate me?"

She asked, her voice crackling. Loki smiled and shook his head. "Why would I hate you?"

"I don't know things have been awkward ever since our trip and suddenly you seem really busy and you don't even want to get dinner anymore and it feels like everything is going backwards and..."

Darcy continued to talk until she ran out of breath. Loki put his arms around her and pulled her to his chest, laughing softly.

"Honestly, I don't understand how you get so worried. I've just been a little bit preoccupied, and maybe trying to avoid your interesting fashion choices."

Loki felt his chest pound as Darcy laughed into his neck, her hot breath against his cold skin. She pushed him down onto the bed, looking down on him from above.

"I don't really think that there's anything here you should try and avoid."

Loki looked up at her, his dark hair falling around his face on the bed, and Darcy was pleased to see that for the first time she had ever noticed his eyes didn't appear calculating like usual, and instead they held desire. He reached out and put his hand on her thigh, feeling the bare skin and running his fingers down and across her leg. He pulled his hand away from her for a moment before reaching for the small of her back, pulling her down on top of him. She pulled her face to his, resting on her elbows as she ran her hand through his hair, down his jaw line and to his lips. In the fading natural light coming from the windows, Loki's mischievous green eyes almost appeared innocent. She leaned and brushed her lips against his, feel his shuttering breath.

"I was right," he said, his voice wavering, "It's those damned clothes, men can't control themselves."

He put his hand in her hair and pulled her lips to his, kissing her softly with a hint of desperation. Darcy was surprised to find him kissing her, because the initiation of anything in the past was initiated by her and politely rejected by him. She pulled away for a moment, looking at him seriously. He looked back up at her with a slightly displeased expression, which was followed by him moving his hands down across the curve of her breast and waist and pulling her down more firmly on top of him. They kissed again with equal desperation coming from each of them. Loki found himself overwhelmed by the intimacy of another person, and figured out quickly that he had little or no control over the situation, Darcy being on top of him. Darcy realized quite early on that he had absolutely no idea what he was doing - he didn't fumble at all, his movements were graceful and his touch firm, but there was absolutely no direction to where he was going - plain and simple, he was confused. She pulled away from him again.

"Have you ever kissed someone before?" she asked.

Loki blushed fiercely and sat up, causing Darcy to slide into his lap, and bringing him face to face with her.

"Of- of course I - I"

"Other than me?"

He fell silent, his expression similar to a deer caught in headlights. Darcy took that as a no.

"Are you having trouble with this?"

"Is- is that what you do on Earth? Kiss someone and then exchange notes on how terrible they are at it?"

"No need to get defensive, I'm asking for your sake."

Loki looked away from her.

"Yes, it's difficult for me. I haven't exactly been raised to share or show emotions, it's a little overwhelming. And I - I just have no idea what to do."

He looked ashamed, like he had let her down. If he felt ashamed at that, Darcy could hardly imagine how other intimacy issues would make him feel. Having direct eye contact with him was an odd but pleasant experience for Darcy - she felt more in control. And of course, she was in control in this situation.

"What do you want?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do you want to do to me?"

Loki looked her up and down, and blushed again.

"I'm not going to answer that."

"Why not?"

"I - no. Just not answering.

"Okay, well, you're probably having trouble because you don't know what I want. So, you can have anything."

Loki raised an eyebrow. "Anything?"

"Anything you want."

"Don't you think that is a little open ended?"

"Damn it Loki you have a girl on your lap, you're obviously turned on and you still want to nit pick about details?"

"Habit."

He ran his fingers through her hair, and his fingertips across her jaw line. _Anything._ Suddenly, Loki's eyes shot open like he had been hit by an electric shock. His body went rigid as he pushed Darcy off of him.

"Off off off. Oh, don't look like that, it's nothing to do with you."

He stood up quickly and brushed his clothing down, straightening it out and doing a few buttons back up on his shirt. He swiftly ran to the cupboard and grabbed his bag, scarf and coat before closing the door to the room. Suddenly, he eyed the door warily.

"Was that open?"

He asked. Darcy, who was still in shock at Loki's quick movement, nodded. Loki frowned.

"I have to go. I'm not avoiding you, this is very important and quite urgent. I'll tell you about it upon my return. Maybe we can go out and get dinner tomorrow night? I should be back."

Darcy slowly nodded. She was slightly upset, but Loki was obviously frantic about whatever he had to get to. He smiled at her before disappearing. For a little while Darcy sat still and unmoving, as if it would bring Loki back into the room. With a large sigh Darcy lay back down on the bed. She didn't know if she wanted to eat or sleep or work or something else, her mind was too unsettled. What she decided on was an early, if not accidental sleep where she had set herself down in his bed, in hopes the next day would come sooner and bring Loki's return.

o

Loki appeared on a harsh jutting ledge, ice spilling over the edge of hard rock and light snow consistently building up a bank of snow around it. Loki instantly sat down in the pile of snow, his mind swimming with different thoughts and emotions. He held out his hands in front of them, surprised to see that they appeared normal. They felt as if they were literally buzzing, and his heart was still pounding in his chest. He ran his hand through his disheveled hair, setting it back in place.

"Well," said a voice from all around him, with a tone that sounded like rumbling rocks and splitting ice, "the prince arrives. Or should I say, princess? It appears you have a love of lipstick, young Loki."

Loki stood back up at quickly as he had sat down, looking around to try and find his frosty friend. He knew that there was a slim chance of spotting them unless they wanted you to, especially in icy, rocky conditions. He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, finding a familiar shade of Darcy's lipstick. He wiped it on his pants and began speaking to the faceless rocks.

"Nice location you've picked to hide. Norway is a lovely place, and these mountain ranges are suitably named. I assume you know that, of course."

The voice came again like cracking ice, "These mountain ranges are called Jotunheim for a reason, friend, they resemble our home quite uncannily, don't you agree?"

" 'Friend?' Are we friends, now? Perhaps we should set aside the formalities and speak about more series matters - such as those you brought up around my colleague."

"Colleague? That's not the word I would choose when referring to her, I would say 'toy'. You young ones always feel that the formalities aren't important - you have so much to learn."

Loki ignored the comment about Darcy, and laughed.

"Me? So much to learn? Unfortunately I have to inform you that I'm one of the most intelligent beings in all of the Nine Worlds."

Loki suddenly spotted the small giant, who was sitting on a ledge directly across from him. The giant was shaking his head sadly.

"You may be smart, little Loki, but you're not what I would call wise. Allfather Odin could have told you that, no? Or perhaps he's none too pleased with you after the stunt you pulled."

Loki's mouth twitched, but he chose to say nothing. The giant spoke again, standing up and causing a shift of snow and tumbling of rocks.

"You killed my entire extended family, Laufeyson. Your childish assault on our planet left mothers crippled and fathers dead. Children who knew of no war and strife now must grow up with no parents, and old ones such as myself had to see their children die their my own passing. Can you imagine the effects of growing up without real parents would have on a child?"

He said the the last statement with a twisted smile. Loki flexed his hands, wondering why he hadn't found himself a weapon of some sort during his six months on earth.

"Your taunting is juvenile and futile - Laufey was no more of a father to me than you are, and the Allfather was a better parent than any, as was his wife."

"Oh, the Allfather is a great man. If I recall correctly, though, he had a little flaw. He had a habit of picking favorites."

"Quiet, giant. It's not your place to speak."

Loki's words were close to a shout, and he took a few deep breaths realizing he was falling for the giant's tricks. Loki could tell the giant wasn't all that different from himself - more of a wordsmith than anything, with magic tricks to fall back on. Although Loki knew that he himself had much more than simple magic tricks.

"Your mind is heated, son of Laufey. Have I perhaps caught you as an emotional time? You chose to chase me, remember."

"You're traveling using my doorways, it's not right. It hits me like nausea every time you move, and I've felt it every time since you arrived on Earth three weeks ago. This time, it was much worse. You didn't just move yourself, I know that much, and I'm here to tell you to stop or I'm going to have to kill you."

The giant rumbled a laugh, causing snow to fall off of the ledge about Loki, the snowfall running through his hair and down his back. Loki didn't even notice the chill, as he was too focussed on his foe.

"Well that's a shame, because I have no intention of putting my plans of hold..."

"What are your plans? Not to show modesty, but it wouldn't take too many of you to kill me. Maybe twenty? I'm thinking you moved a hundred or so over here."

"Midgard is a beautiful realm, I would not mind taking some of it for myself."

"I regret to tell you that there are a fair amount of people on Earth, in specific a few extraordinary people, who wouldn't let that happen. Myself included."

The giant shrugged, "Ah, well it's fortunate that the first part of my plan involves killing you, or I would have worried. Or perhaps we should kill your friend first? Nothing is more satisfying than watching your cold blood boil."

Loki clenched his fists again.

"Please, that's completely unnecessary. I came here neither to insult nor harm you, and I trust you'll respect me in the same way."

"Hah!" the giant spat, "'Respect' and 'Loki' don't even belong on the same page - you're a despicable little creature. I'm thinking I'll go play with your little toy until she screams and cries, and then I'll kill her. Then maybe - maybe - I'll be ready to give you enough respect to kill you."

Loki felt the hairs on his arms stand up from the tension in the air, and blood pound in his ears from anger.

"I'm willing to forgive your ignorance if-"

"Oh my! Have I made you angry, little prince? Am I out of line in saying that you haven't even had enough time to play with the girl properly yourself? What are you so scared of? Losing control? Hurting her? Being too rough? She's just a _human girl_, what does it matter if you-"

Before he could finish, Loki had him pinned to the wall by his neck.

"Listen you piece of shit, I came here to be diplomatic, which is rather difficult for me, and you've practically spat in my face. I don't know what your people say about me, but I'll set the records straight before I crush you into a handful of frost. My name is Loki - son of Odin - prince of Asgard and King of Lies. You and your friends want _mischief_ from me? Sorry, too bad - mischief, much like innocence, is dead - I killed it. There's nothing from here on but chaos and mayhem - and believe me, I am as well acquainted with both as a lover. Wit of ice and passion of fire - I'm no one you should love or trust, but in the place of them: fear. Have you any last words, sorcerer?"

The giant gave a final pathetic laugh, limited by Loki's hand on his neck.

"You... you truly sound like an Asgardian, Laufeyson. Yet you... you play with words instead of fire, and mess around with Earth-girls... you've lowered your standards and have become weak. Throw your crafty words around all your wish, they're no more threatening than thrown snow balls. Know that even if you kill me - which I doubt - I brought many allies to Earth with me who will be sure to pay your friend a visit once you're promptly killed. You're more innocent and uncorrupted than you're ever going to admit to yourself - you don't have it in you to kill me. I'm sorry prince, but I only show fear in the face of kings, and I regret to say you certainly aren't anything of the sort."

"Something an old friend told me was that the first thing a sorcerer of quality learns to do is make himself hard to kill, and I'm afraid that doesn't make you much of a quality sorcerer. Impressive trick with the teleportation though, even if you we're just copying an innovative genius such as myself. Laugh in my face all you want, but never - NEVER - fuck with who I love. That was your only mistake - the rest of this was friendly banter. If anyone so much as looks at Darcy the wrong way, I will end them and the rest of Jotenheim soon after."

The giant struggled against Loki's unwavering grip. Loki stood rigid as a statue, his skin deep blue from the direct contact with the giant.

"Your friend's asleep in your bed, safe as a lamb," the sorcerer gasped, his panic obviously rising as he realized that Loki had no plans of letting go of him. He smiled again, "and blue's a good color on you..."

Before the giant could say another mocking word, he shattered like brittle ice, shards flying through the air and landing around Loki's feet, the occasional one catching his skin. The ice stuck into his hand like shards of broken glass, and he roughly slapped his hand to try and remove them. He took a few deep breaths, tired from the burst of magic - he was out of practice. Back in Asgard he was in the training yard doing intense physical training, as well as practicing his sorcery constantly - to put it simply, he was just unfit. When the ground rumbled slightly, he knew he was in trouble. Rocks began falling all around him and sound echoed through the whole snowy valley like an avalanche. He tried to count the footfalls as bodies fell around him - 30 - 65 - 80 - 100... 250... 400... 700... 1200... shit. Too many, that was what he knew. He was tired enough that ten would have been difficult. The last of the frost giants fell in front of him, towering over him. The size of the giant in front of him made him realize how tiny the sorcerer was.

"So you're the runt everyone talks about... I can't believe we're even the same species."

The giants laughed like a chorus of thunder, shaking the ground and causing frozen rocks to shift.

"Go home," Loki said, "Go home and don't ever come anywhere near Earth again."

"You just killed our trip home. He said if he were ever to die to kill you, but you don't look all that threatening." he held out his arm as it became a lance of ice.

Loki was relieved that they had no other form of transportation, it meant Darcy was safe... for a while at least. He heard the hundreds of other giants around the first one pull out icy weapons as well. Loki rolled up his sleeves.

"Sorry Darcy, might miss dinner... something tells me this might sting a little..."

He mumbled to himself with a gulp.

o

Darcy was seriously worried. She hadn't slept for nine days, and her eating habits weren't exactly healthy either. She had been doing her work at his desk in his room with hopes of him returning, and she had been sleeping in his bed, clutching pillows to herself with worry. The only way she was able to get to sleep was to trick herself into thinking he was on the other side of the bed, which was made easier by the familiar smell of his bed sheets. After the second day of Loki's disappearance Jane and Erik had stopped asking where he was, and now, ten days later, it was as if he never existed at all. Darcy was getting to the point where she couldn't do anything - she was too ridden with grief at the loss of her friend. For the first time ever she was sympathizing with Jane over her sudden loss of Thor. She found herself awake in bed at 4am, still unable to sleep. She lay on top of the sheets in her underwear, a magazine lying on her chest. She didn't really even have the concentration to read magazines anymore, all she could think about was Loki. After hours of lying awake in agony, finally she managed drift off to sleep.

o

A/N: OMAGAD WHURS LOKI?

1. Yes, there was a book written that said women need to be taught modesty or men will sexually assault them because they can't help it.

2. Marvel Asgardian's do indeed weigh anywhere between 400-600 pounds! If I remember correctly it's because they have a much denser anatomy, giving them tougher skin and making them much harder to kill.

3. NOT GOING TO LIE I'D LET HIM SEXUALLY ASSAULT ME. MULTIPLETIMES #manineedaboyfriend


	10. Silence

A/N: Sorry, took forever to write yet it's short and crappy. Don't hate it too much, I'm just trying to move things along.

**Things Left Unsaid**

**By: Thessaly Corgin (Corgin)**

**Chapter 10: Silence**

o

"Darcy? It's three in the morning, why are you calling?"

Darcy heard her step father grumble sleepily in the background.

"Hi mom... I don't know, I haven't really been sleeping lately... I think work is finally getting to me..."

She lied, knowing perfectly well that her two-week-missing friend was the problem. Her mother groaned and Darcy heard the rustle of sheets.

"Did you have to call in the middle of the night? Honey, you must be going insane or something. Why don't you come home for a vacation? Just a few weeks?"

Darcy sighed into her phone.

"Yeah... yeah I think you're right. I was calling to ask if that was okay with you. I'll ask Jane for some time off and get work to book me a flight."

"Do you want to bring that friend or yours or something? You've been talking about him constantly for the last half year, I think Jim wants to know who he is, he always likes to think that he's your overprotective father."

"I... we'll see. I don't know. I'll call you tomorrow, alright?"

Her mother was quiet for a moment, absorbing that Darcy's agitation was a 'boy issue'.

"Okay honey, just don't call in the middle of the night, please..."

Darcy hung up and leaned back onto her pillows, staring at the ceiling. She felt like her mind was unravelling more and more each day. She rolled over onto her side and closed her eyes, determined to get at least an hour of sleep. Just as she was dozing off, Darcy felt the air snap tight as all of the books on the desk scattered and pages fluttered, violently jarred by a rough landing. Darcy squealed with fright at the sudden noise and sat bolt upright, scurrying back against the backboard of the bed as she watched the paper tumble down and the dust settle.

"L-Loki?"

She stuttered, her body buzzing from being awoken so quickly. Loki appeared to jump at her voice, and turned to look at her with wide, scared eyes devoid of his usual mischievous glimmer. His hair was jagged and messy which was an oddity for him as he was such a tidy man; his eyes were sunken and tired and his face dirty, his clothes ripped and mottled with what appeared to be blood stains. Blood appeared to be running from his nose to his lips, which he was taking no notice of. He jumped down from the desk and collapsed on the floor.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

Darcy said harshly, running over to him. He swatted her away, struggling to sit up and lean against the bed.

"Stop - don't touch me. Why are you in my room?"

His voice was bitter and raspy and his eyes flickered from Darcy to random spaces around the room. She reached out to touch his face and he flinched away.

"Are you okay?" Darcy wanted to hit herself - she always managed to asked the dumbest questions. Of course he wasn't okay, he was basically looking right through her. "I'm in your room because you've been gone half a freaking month and I was starting to go insane. Where the hell were you?"

"Get out. GET OUT."

Darcy saw it again - that hollow, scared look. She finally realized that he had absolutely no idea who she was. He turned away from her, his head in his hands. With a sigh Darcy went to the bathroom and picked up a towel, running it under hot water. _What did he get himself into? _She thought, remembering his hasty disappearance. _Bastard owes me a date. _

"Turn around." She said shortly, crouching down beside him. "Come on, turn around and let me wipe off your face, you look like a pathetic child." When he didn't respond she grabbed his chin and turn it around herself.

"Dear lord, are you crying? What have you done with the real Loki?"

Instead of replying Loki dropped his eye contact with her as she started wiping off his face.

"What's my name, can you tell me what my name is?"

Darcy asked him.

"I - I don't..."

He started, trailing off.

"Whoever screwed you up screwed you up _really _bad. I think I'm going to put you in the shower and get you something to eat, then you should probably sleep or something, maybe it will fix you. Does that sound okay?"

Once Darcy convinced him to take a shower she wandered down to the cafeteria to find something for him to eat. The cafeteria was bright with artificial light, as it was all hours of the day. One of the lunch lady's sat dozing behind the buffet of food, and at one of the far tables someone sat reading a book, presumably Erik. After grabbing a tray of food she walked over to him.

"Darcy?" He asked, "what exactly are you doing in here at four in the morning?"

"I... I can't sleep. You know how it is."

"You need to stop worrying. Loki's a god, he'll come back eventually. He probably got caught up in something and lost track of time."

"It's... not that. He came back."

"What, when?"

"About half an hour ago."

"The look on your face isn't exactly joyful, you look a little glum."

"I... don't know. I'll talk to you about it tomorrow."

Without waiting for a response she walked briskly away, back to Loki's room. He sat one of his chairs wrapped in a towel, his eyes cast downward at the ground.

"I brought you some food." Darcy said simply, "do you want to talk?"

Loki just shook his head as he continue to avoid eye contact. He burrowed under the covers of the bed and turned his back to Darcy, still not speaking a single word. Darcy lay down beside him and put a hand on his shoulder, trying to roll him over towards her. When he didn't budge she just sighed and turned away from his, disheartened by his strange behavior.

"Well, I'll let you go to sleep. But I'll be here all night so just wake me up if you need anything. And if you get hunger I left food for your on your desk and..."

Darcy, unaware of her own state of exhaustion mumbled on for another twenty seconds before she fell into a yet again restless and uncomfortable sleep.

o

Darcy was beginning to think that it was time to quit her job and just go get a masters degree or something. She knew that working for SHIELD was going to be hard and probably a little bit strange, but she was really starting to lose it. The job had given her Loki by some stroke of luck, and now he was slipping away from her more and more each day. He had been back almost two weeks and hadn't spoken a single word to anyone since his return. He walked around the building like a ghost, his eyes lifeless and tired. Erik was being driven up the wall because Loki also refused to do any work at all, and no amount of yelling or complaining would make him do anything. For the first couple of nights Darcy had slept in his bed with his, nudging his and watching him in hopes he would finally speak to her. However, after the first few nights she just found herself becoming more and more upset at the lack of words in between them, and felt that she needed to take a healthy distance to keep herself sane.

"Maybe you should just let go, Darcy. There's a good chance nothing is going to make him any better. We have no idea what happened to him, and no way to get that information out of him. Do you remember what the last time you saw him here before he left?"

"Uh... yeah. We were just doing... stuff and he said he suddenly have to go, and he disappeared."

"Were you guys fighting about something? Was he angry at you?"

"No, not at all. For the first time ever he was actually responding to me in a way that wasn't sarcastic. I don't think I had anything to do with it - I don't think any of us did. It seemed like something in his head."

"Well then I don't know. Hopefully he comes to soon or we'll have to get rid of him."

"You'll _**what?"**_

"Get rid of him."

Darcy stared across the table at Jane, a look of half shock half disgust on her face.

"You can't just _get rid of him._ He's an employee, a person. We need him here.

"So long as he's just sitting outside in the rain planting banana trees he's not really being much use to us.

"What? Banana trees?"

"Go outside and look for yourself."

Darcy jumped out of her chair and ran down the hallway, out the front doors of the facility. As Jane had mentioned, Loki was sitting out in the rain with a spade in one hand and a small tree in the other, digging a hole. Ignoring the stinging freezing rain Darcy walked over to him and sat down next to him.

"Loki...Loki stop. If you're doing anything you should be working."

Ignoring her, Loki continued to dig the hole peacefully, his half closed eyes watching the dirt slide off of the spade he was digging with. He dropped the little tree into the hole and started covering up the roots, his dark, wet hair hanging down in front of his face.

"Loki, I don't even think that banana trees can grow in the winter, or in New Mexico, you shouldn't be planting those. You shouldn't be planting anything, we're a government agency and we don't need a display of plants outside of our front doors. Stop it. Now."

Loki looked at her passively for a few seconds before looking away. Without delay he picked up another tiny tree and started digging a new hole. Darcy grunted in frustration and stomped away, back to the building.

o

"Look at him. Sitting at that table by himself, I almost feel sorry for the fellow. Then again, he's kind of a waste of our time."

"Oh, is he freaking you out now, Erik? And yes, he is a waste of our time and he's driving Darcy absolutely insane. I think she really loves him, and she's way too young to have to see someone she loves degenerate right in front of her. She deserves better."

"So we're in agreement then? We're going to try and convince her to let us get rid of him?"

Jane pushed her fruit salad around with her fork, before looking back up to Erik.

"Well... I... don't think that's quite fair either. He is a person. Don't get me wrong, I dislike the guy as much as any of us, he's a jerk... but he means so much to her. I think it would really destroy her."

"Look, how about this. We get Darcy to come to a meeting tomorrow, and we talk about it with her. If we talk about it with her, she won't feel like we're the evil parents taking away her toys. Sound good?"

"... I guess we could give it a try."

o

"I can't believe we're having this meeting. We shouldn't be having this meeting. It's only been three weeks since he's come back, and it's almost Christmas. I don't want to deal with this."

Jane brought over a tray of coffee and put the mugs in front of Darcy and Erik.

"Darcy - I know. Don't think that he hasn't grown on us, too, but he's a liability. Here at SHIELD we're a very serious agency, we can't have a man who's severely mentally handicapped walking around, I won't be able to justify it to Stark or Fury."

Darcy dragged her coffee cup over and stared down into it. Erik sighed and patted Darcy on the back.

"It's not like we're going to take him out to the back and shoot him, we want to get him help."

"Help? What the hell kind of help can you give him? He's unequipped for the human world and his brain is turned off - even if you set him up somewhere he'll probably starve to death because he doesn't know how to get food."

"Can gods even starve to death?"

"Shut up Erik."

Jane took a sip of coffee and looked up at the ceiling, "Well... we could take him to a mental hospital. I'll file it as a work related accident and we'll have enough insurance money to keep him at a good one."

Erik quickly shook his head, "No. Absolutely out of the question. Even if he's completely out of his mind, he's still crafty. In a month he's almost managed to drive all of us insane with his silence, I can guarantee you all of the staff at whichever mental hospital we dump him on will end up in the psych ward themselves."

"Hah! Are you kidding me? So he's a liability _and_ he's dangerous? You disgust me, he's innocent as a kitten, especially right now and what he really needs is to stay in a stable environment. Just give me a few more weeks before you make a decision, Stark isn't going to notice right away. Just say he's our gardener, he's been doing a fair amount of that."

Jane and Erik looked at each other before looking back to Darcy.

"If Stark doesn't notice Fury will. They have eyes everywhere around here, I'm surprised he hasn't been spotted yet, he must be doing a pretty good job at impersonating a human librarian. Or gardener now, I guess."

The trio were silent for a moment, looking down into their coffee.

"I'll get him a fish." Darcy said triumphantly. Jane and Erik looked puzzled.

"A fish?" Erik asked skeptically, as Darcy gave a confident nod in response.

"You know, like animal therapy. Maybe we're not getting to him enough, so a fish will."

Jane let out a long sigh, putting her empty cup of coffee back onto the tray.

"Okay, fish, bird - whatever. You have two weeks, and after that we're seriously going to have to consider getting rid of him. You're lucky I'm so soft."

Darcy struggled to hide her excitement and she bounced up and skipped out of the room.

o

Darcy coughed as the fine gravel she was pouring into the fish tank spat fine dust up into the air towards her.

"I can't believe she let me do this."

She said to the eel-like little fish sitting dumbly in the water filled plastic bag beside her. The fish, of course, gave no response. Once she finished filling up the tank with water and attaching a filter she carefully opened the bag ands slipped the creature into the water. It looked as if it had a permanent little smile plastered on its face, and it looked up at her with pink eyes. _Weird fish, _She thought. After half an hour Loki returned to his room and looked at the tank with confusion, before sitting down in the chair in front of it.

"It's a fish."

Darcy said, assuming that Loki had no idea what it was. She was desperately hoping that he was going to ask her about it, give it a name, say something. Instead it simply stared into the water at it, his expression unchanging. Unable to deal with his lack of response, Darcy promptly left the room, leaving behind the food pellets for the fish on the table.

o

"It's been a week and a half Darcy, I just wanted to remind you. What's he been doing?"

"Staring at the fish. Presumably feeding it because it looks alive, but whenever I go into his room he's either not there, and if he is, he's in the chair staring at the fish. And it stares back, it's kind of creepy."

"I think you should just relax and give it a rest. Why don't you go into town and go to a bar or something? Or you could go to your parents house, it's only a week until Christmas, they would probably love to see you."

"Jane just... I don't think I can leave. What if something happens while I'm gone? What if I come back and Erik's gotten rid of him? I'm not going anywhere until he's okay."

"What if he's already okay, and he doesn't want to talk?"

Darcy threw Jane a dangerous glare.

"Jane you know exactly what he's capable of, and if he was 'just fine' he would be doing a lot more than planting banana trees and staring at a fish. I'm going to go check on him."

Darcy promptly excused herself from the cafeteria and walked up the stairs to the residential wing of the building. She had almost gotten used to being alone everywhere she went - for the last half year she had grown so used to Loki at her heels. As she had assumed Loki was in his room staring into the fish tank... Darcy was beginning to regret buying that fish.

"Loki..." she said, sitting down next to him and putting her hand on his, "you're driving me insane. Jane and Erik want to get rid of you, and I'm struggling to keep you here. I haven't slept for two months now. _Two months. _Please just... saying something, anything."

He turned to Darcy with a quizzical, profound look on his face some shallow recognition dancing in his eyes.

"What is this?"

He asked quietly, pointing at the fish. Darcy flinched in shock at the sound of his voice - butterflies fluttering in her stomach and her skin becoming hot with excitement.

"I uh... that's a... that's a fish?"

"What kind of fish?"

Darcy looked at the little monster: it stood at the bottom of the tank on four tiny little legs and had a long tail, with an oval head and beady little eyes. On the side of its head it had gills, which were large and red and stuck out like fluffy pipe cleaners.

"I think it was a..." she picked up the pamphlet that was still little next to the tank, "Mexican walking fish. It was the strangest one I could find, I thought you'd like it. It looks like it's smiling."

"It looks very happy."

"Well I imagine it is very happy."

Loki dropped a pellet into the water and stood up, grabbing his bag.

"Where are you going?"

Darcy asked with a concerned tone.

"Outside."

He said simply, leaving Darcy alone in his room. Darcy wasn't sure if she was happy or disappointed about Loki's anticlimactic and unprofound choice to break the silence.

o

The ground was hard. With only a week until Christmas the soil was frosty and difficult, unwilling to accept any new seeds. Loki was carefully landscaping the outside of the facility, and so far his obsessive diligence had produced a beautiful albeit out of place arrangement outside of the main doors. Loki shuttered again as he felt his mind grinding back into motion, memories and new thoughts bombarding him all at once. He crushed the spade in his hand as he felt a shock of pain from the rush of ideas. He looked up from his gardening to see a silver Audi pull up in front of the facility. The driver stepped out, completely unaccompanied by body guards or an escort, and walked up to the door. Before he went in he turned and looked at Loki, staring at him for a few moments before walking over with a grin. _Oh great, _Loki thought.

"Well, I didn't know they had a gardener here. Great job - I should hire you."

"Quiet."

"Oh, come on, I know you're friendlier than that. Or is it just because of all the gin you drink around me? Although, I've heard you lost a couple of screws recently, did I hear right? Tell me all about it."

"Perhaps you did hear right, perhaps not. Is there a particular reason you're in New Mexico today?"

"Yeah, actually. Looking for a fellow named Loki, I heard he's an asshole who likes talking around conversations that are supposed to be about him."

"Sounds like my kind of man. Are we talking here or at your place?"

Stark looked from his car to the SHIELD facility, before pulling out his phone.

"Pepper? Get my jet in New Mexico ready, I'll be there within a few hours -and cancel all of my appointments for today and tomorrow, I have a more important guest." He hung up and turned to Loki. "Get in the car, wonder boy. Preferably not the divers seat, I know how you drive."

Loki raised an eyebrow and dusted his jeans off before walking for the car.


	11. Absences

A/N: Okay so here's what happened. Some weird Scandinavian kids convinced me to go on a road trip and for some reason I agreed. Along the way my laptop broke, so now it's in the shop and I can't update this story. So I feel bad about it so I'm writing a bridging chapter just to tell you that I can't really update this for real until laptop is returned.

A/N #2: The R key on this keyboard is sticky (on a university desktop) :(

Things Left Unsaid

By: Thessaly Corgin (Corgin)

Chapter 11: Absences

o

It wasn't the wind in his hair that made him shiver, but the violent storm of thoughts that was raging about his mind. For weeks he'd felt… absent: unable to react, unable to contribute and most of all unable comfort Darcy. Loki was unsure if he preferred the pain of his mind catching up with itself or the idle nothingness of having no mind at all.

"I told them to build the god damn facility closer to the airport; it takes forever to drive in between the two of them."

Loki ignored Stark's comments, which were obviously sad attempts at sparking a conversation; turning his head to look out of the window at the vast and boring landscape. _I didn't tell Darcy… _the trickster realized with a slight hint of guilt, suddenly feeling bad for his hasty departure. He turned back to Stark and thought about briefly disappearing to inform the girl, but decided against it because, although he liked to play dumb when it came to their relationship, he knew it would open up a catastrophic argument.

"I think that this is the longest you've ever gone without talking, what's the problem? I guess what everyone's been gossiping about is true."

"Unlike you, I have responsibilities and important things to think about."

Idly, Loki's mind drifted to the dopey looking fish in his room and he hoped that Darcy would remember to feed it while he was gone.

"Like what? Making sure someone waters you plants? Let's face it Loki, your life in SHIELD is worth absolutely nothing. I was coming here to offer you much, much more."

"I'm not listening to a word you say until we're back at your place."

Stark shrugged with his typical air of nonchalance, giving Loki a sly look over the top of his sunglasses, before he turned back to the road. Loki cringed again as his head felt as if it was splitting in half, and decided that what he was feeling was by far the worst headache of his life.

o

"Jane? Have you seen Loki?"

Darcy had found Loki's usual gardening utensils out at the front of the building, but failed to find any trace of the man, and his room had yielded similar results. Jane looked up from her work, her hair a mess and clothes ruffled, alerting Darcy that Jane had probably been up all night the night before – again - with research.

"Yeah. He went away with someone in a silver car, the security men told me a few hours ago."

"Wait… few hours ago? Did I just hear you right? Is there a reason you didn't tell me this hours ago?"

"Your obsession with him is bothering me. Sure, you're friends, or something more – I don't know, it's not my business – but if he wants to go away without telling you then maybe well… he wants a little bit of space. And all of us should probably respect that, you included."

"I… I can't believe you."

Jane had been quickly losing her patience over the months of Loki's absence and reappearance, and she was honestly under the belief that he was more trouble than he was worth to them. He had mixed Darcy up in whatever trouble he was causing – intentional or otherwise – and Loki's voluntary departure had been a little bit of a relief. She knew he was safe, so there was nothing going on to raise alarm bells. Without waiting another second Darcy stormed out of the room, bumping into Erik as she went. Once Darcy had cleared the hallway Erik entered Jane's office.

"What's she all huffed about?"

"Loki left again about four hours ago in silver Audi with the licence plate 'STARK 4'."

"Was it actually Stark?"

"Unless he has an impersonator - Yes. From the dialogue on the security tape it was the asshole himself: he had all of the same speaking mannerisms. Judging by what they were talking about the two have known each other for a little while."

"Does Darcy know?"

"Darcy? Of course not. She'd go looking for him. I'm thinking that it's a good idea to send her away on a bit of a vacation, she needs a break. Any ideas?"

Erik sat down on one of the desks and pondered, rubbing his chin.

"Her parents haven't seen her for a while, and she was asking us for time off to go and see them not long ago… I say send her to LA to see them."

Jane nodded, and started typing up an email to get plane tickets booked.

"Sending her to her parents is probably a good idea. Because honestly, how much trouble could she get herself into?"


	12. The Stark Reality

A/N: Oh god I finally got my computer back. FINALLY. ;_;

**Things Left Unsaid**

**By: Thessaly Corgin (Corgin)**

**Chapter 12: The Stark Reality**

o

"No, no, no, no, NO."

"Seriously Darcy, just calm down. I'm sure he'll come back, yelling about it really isn't going to make it any better. I think you just need to relax for a while, he's been driving you absolutely insane."

"Insane? Yeah, that's for sure. Insane is an _understatement. _I'm going to make everyone else go mad along with me."

Jane stood up from her chair and leaned against the desk, motioning Darcy to come completely into her office.

"That's actually why I asked you to come to my office. As much as I love you complaining about Loki, you're driving absolutely everyone up the wall. Myself included. I think it would be good for everyone if you took... a bit of a break,."

"Are you fucking serious? You're firing me?"

Jane sighed and picked up a file off her desk, flipping through it and handing it to Darcy.

"No, you're not fired, you just need a break. Go home, see your parents, have a nice Christmas. I'm sure he'll be here when you get back. Your parents miss you, I'm positive it will do you some good."

"I can't believe this. I can't believe _you_. You're supposed to be your friend."

"I am your friend, Darcy. But I'm also the boss, and I'm doing what's best for you. There's a driver outside, your plane leaves from Albuquerque soon. I'll see you after New Years."

Darcy, who was speechless, snatched the file from Jane and stormed out of the office, trying her very best not to cry.

o

"Sooo... Norway? Is it nice this time of year?"

Loki looked at Tony Stark out of the corner of his eye, but kept his gaze fixed on the coastline the were driving along.

"I don't remember telling you I was going to Norway."

"JARVIS tracks your energy signature, it's pretty unique. Last time I checked Scandinavia isn't in New Mexico so I assume you went on a trip."

"I wouldn't call it a trip. I'm still quite unsure what exactly happened."

"Hah, you don't really expect me to believe the reports that you've been helpless as a kitten for the past month, do you?"

Loki reclined in his seat and put his feet up on the dashboard of the car, much to Tony's displeasure.

"Not to be at all modest, but I may have found myself slightly outmatched."

"So you got the shit beat out of you? Take your feet off the dash, I like my cars clean."

"Buy a new one if I ruin it. And yes, something along those lines. Can you at least wait until we're inside to talk?"

"Sure, we're only five minutes away anyways."

Upon arriving Tony's personal assistant, Pepper, ran out and opened his door.

"Tony, the president called and he's really not-"

"Just reschedule it, Pepper, I've got a prince to entertain."

He shrugged off his jacket and threw it to her as he walked by her to the door of the Stark mansion. Loki shot Pepper an apologetic look as he passed her, before disappearing into the building after Stark.

"Good evening mister Stark, good evening Loki Laufeyson. The date is the 19th of December, and it is 7:04 pm. You have been away for one day, three hours and fifteen minutes. How are you today, sir?"

"Good, good. Hey JARVIS, is my workshop tidy?"

"Moderately, sir."

"Cool. Prepare the bar."

"Right away, sir."

Loki looked around the room in slight shock, but still managed to seem mildly disinterested.

"How does it know my name?" he asked.

"You told me your name."

"Not my surname."

Stark simply shrugged and motioned to a glass door, which he opened on a keypad. Loki followed Tony down the stairs into his workshop, which was lined wall to way with a variety of classic and modern cars, as well as various machine parts, schematics and what appeared to be the Iron Man suits. Loki wondered what Stark and JARVIS considered 'moderately' clean, as the tables and desks were covered in grease and the floor was littered with random bits of metal. At one end of the workshop was a ramp, presumably leading outside, and at the other a lit up bar that was being tended to by a rather incompetent robot consisting of a clawed arm on wheels. The machine was attempting to pour scotch into a glass and was instead pouring it onto the marble counter top.

"NO. Stop it, stop, you're wasting my liquor you piece of shit. This is why I shouldn't keep junk I built in high school."

Tony quickly ran up to the machine and snatched the bottle of scotch from it, sending the sulking robot away from the bar. Loki sat on one of the bar stools and raised an eyebrow.

"Looks like the two of you have a history."

"It won't work no matter how much I try and fix it, but I don't have the heart to scrap it."

He poured a scotch and a gin and tonic, sliding the glass across the bar to Loki.

"So. Who's the girl?"

Loki took a sip of his drink and gave Stark a puzzled look.

"What girl?"

"The one you were visiting in Norway. That beat you up."

"She's about thirty feet tall, blue, and brought five thousand of her friends."

"Should SHIELD be worried?"

"Perhaps. In my opinion they're too stupid to actually make it over to the United States."

Tony, who had already finished his scotch, hastily poured himself another one and sat down across from Loki.

"What did they want from you?"

"To kill everyone I have ever loved. Bit of a grudge going - habit."

"And you said they kept you two weeks?"

"In a lovely cave under the Jotenheim mountain range."

"Don't get me started on caves. At least it was only two weeks, try three months."

Loki recalled Darcy mentioning in passing that Tony Stark had been kidnapped and held against his will for three months, in which time he built the first Iron Man suit.

"They wanted to know where Darcy lived."

"Is Darcy the fat one?"

"She's not fat. She's just not... Asgardian."

"Looks like you've had a change of heart on the matter."

"Not quite. Regardless, I didn't tell them where she lives, and they were too dim witted to figure out that she lives with me."

"What exactly did they do to you?"

"I blacked out from pain multiple times and don't remember a lot of it, so let's not talk about it. Are you going to tell me why you came to New Mexico looking for me?"

Stark gave Loki a sly smile before walking over to his desk, and pulling out a brown file. He threw it down in front of Loki; it was titled 'Avenger's Initiative".

"Yeah, I am gonna tell you. And your big, blue Norwegian girlfriend might very well play right into it."

Loki suddenly jolted and looked around as one of this scrying channels at the back of his mind set off alarm bells, before looking right at Stark.

"I've got to run to LA, I have a bit of a problem - babysitting issue."

"You mean girl related problem?"

"Perhaps."

"You better be back before dinner, I'd hate to drink alone."

Loki would have thrown Stark a rare grateful smile, but before he could he had already moved himself to a downtown Los Angeles shopping mall.

o

"Come on honey, you've just been sitting there all day. Why don't your head down to the mall or something?"

Darcy twirled her car keys on her finger and swiveled her chair around to look and her mother, who appeared very displeased.

"I don't want to go to the mall, I always run into people I know, it's annoying."

"Just go do some Christmas shopping, shopping always cheers you up. Stop thinking about that stupid man, he's not worth your time."

Darcy sighed and stood up - she wanted to leave just to get her mother out of her hair. No matter how much she explained, her mother would never understand exactly how _weird _the situation with Loki was. Or how weird he was.

"Fine. Bye."

"Oh, don't be short with me. I'm just thinking about your wellbeing. I'm going to make turkey tonight, does that sound good?"

"Sure, whatever, fine."

Leaving her mother to squabble behind her, Darcy ran down to the garage and left as quickly as she could. Los Angeles was a foreign city to her, as he parents had moved there after she left for university. It was interesting enough, though, and she always enjoyed actually being able to drive places in a _real car_ that wasn't an old pick up truck. The mall was exactly the same as it had been her previous visit - dark, dingy and packed full of frantic Christmas shoppers and holiday goers. Fake snow adorned the stair ways and over the top decorations hung from every free space on the ceiling. Darcy had hardly started browsing when she heard her name.

"Darcy? Darcy Lewis?"

She turned around quickly to see the not-so-friendly face of an ex-colleague.

"Michael, nice to see you, merry Christmas."

She said dully.

"Yeah, sure. I haven't seen you for what? A year?"

"Something like that."

"If I recall correctly you got me fired."

"I - I don't remember it like that."

Darcy took a step back, feeling uncomfortable by the unexpected confrontation.

"We hook up, you get bored, you complain to Dr. Foster and I lose my job. That sure is what it looked like. Have you moved on to your next victim yet?"

"Look, it wasn't like that at all, I understand if you're upset or something but I really don't think this is the place-"

He grabbed her shoulder as she tried to turn away from him, and Darcy started to panic. Is was all innocent as far as she could remember - sure, she mentioned something about the brief and boring relationship to Jane is passing, but he never asked for her to _fire _anyone. She felt the pressure on her shoulder increase.

"I'm sorry, is there a particular reason you're grabbing my girlfriend's shoulder?"

Darcy couldn't turn around, but she recognized the voice in an instant. Michael let go of her shoulder as Loki pulled her back against his chest.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just chatting."

Loki turned Darcy around and set to walk away from the confrontation all together, his face placid and stride determined.

"Just wait, she'll be bored of you soon enough, too."

Loki stopped mid stride and turned around to look at his offender in the eye.

"I beg to differ, as I'm significantly more interesting than you'll ever dream of being. Have a good day."

He turned around again and put his arm around Darcy, pushing her along to leave when he was struck in the back of the head. Even though Michael was significantly larger, his weak human strength only caused Loki to stagger slightly as he was caught off guard. He paused for a moment, before quickly turning around and pulling off his jacket, dropping it on the floor.

"Please don't tell me you did that on purpose."

He muttered before, much to Darcy's protest, he started rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. "No, stop." she groaned, "people are starting to get freaked out, someone's going to call the cops."

"Are you serious? A little guy like you is actually going to try and take a swing at me?"

"Really, I don't 'try' at anything. I advise you take this chance to walk awa-"

Before Loki could finish his sentence Michael threw another heavy punch. Loki had to admit the guy had some form of combat training, possibly through SHIELD, but he wasn't even a ghost in comparison to himself. He caught Michael's wrist and pulled the man towards him, pinning his opponents arm behind his back and quickly pushing him to the floor with a quick kick against his tailbone. When his opponent didn't move he rolled his sleeves back down and picked up his jacket, grabbing Darcy's arm and heading towards the escalator.

"Where are you parked? We need to leave."

A crowed had formed around Michael's struggling body on the ground, multiple people pulling out cell phones and call what Loki presumed would be the police. Instead of scurrying off with him Darcy tore her arm away and slapped him, Darcy's rigid fingers against his cheek much more shocking than Michael's fist.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You disappear, you stop talking for a month, you act like you've lost your mind, you disappear again and I think you're gone for good, and then you appear out of fucking nowhere and act like you've saved the day."

"Yes, yes, I know you're angry, but now's really not the time for-"

"Don't you dare try to downplay this, I've been going completely off the wall. Jane is pretty much going to fire me, my mother thinks I need therapy and no one takes me seriously anymore. I can't even take myself seriously, I'm starting to think you're just my imaginary friend or something. Do you even give a shit about what you're doing to me?"

"Of course I do, Darcy, I love you, things have just been-"

"Don't you dare tell me you love me, a fuck up like you doesn't even know what that means. Please never talk to me again."

And with a final glare of pure animosity, Darcy stormed off down the escalator without looking back.

"Uh, excuse me, sir?"

Loki turned around to meet the eyes of an apologetic police man.

"I didn't want to interrupt, but I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you a few questions about a fight that just broke out."

o

"Okay, I'm here for a tall fellow, kind of gaunt, dark hair, looks like Dracula? What do I have to pay?"

"Oh, no, don't worry mister Stark, you can just have him. The work you've done for the LAPD has helped us out so much in the last year, consider this as an act of thanks."

Tony looked over the rim of his sunglasses and smiled to the police officer, who led him into a holding room. Loki sat in one of the chairs with his feet up on the coffee table, looking at the ceiling with a miserable expression on his face. He stood up at the sight of Stark.

"Look, buddy, next time you go to beat up kids in the mall, don't list me as your contact when you get arrested. I get into enough trouble being a public disturbance while drunk."

"It wasn't intentional, he was harassing Darcy."

"Well then why isn't Darcy rescuing you from the big bad police?"

Loki looked away from Stark with a frown and headed for the door.

"Uh oh, Loki has girl problems! Doesn't it suck being a selfish asshole?"

"Quiet. Let's go back to your place, I need a drink."

"Don't we all."

o

"So what does she mean to you?"

"What? I don't know. Pour me another drink."

Tony grabbed Loki's glass and stood up, attempting to pour him another drink. Half of the tonic went all over the counter top, and it took him a couple of tries to get the stir stick into the glass to mix it.

"Come on, it's on your mind. You're not even being a dick about it, you're just sulking and I'm getting really bored."

"Go to bed if you're bored and leave me to brood in peace."

"If I go to bed now I'll have one hell of a headache."

Tony sat down hard on the bean bag by his pool table, splashing scotch all over his shirt.

"I don't really think I did anything wrong. I mean, I kind of left her at an awkward time to go to Norway, but I didn't think she'd care. And then I've kind of been out of my mind for a month, which she didn't like, but I couldn't really help that, I went crazy trying to keep her safe. And then you came to take me away..."

"Look, she's a woman. What you don't tell her she won't know. She won't just assume you're off saving the world, you have to tell her you are. I practically have to tell Pepper I'm still alive or she'll assume I'm dead. When I'm standing in front of her."

"Is Pepper your girlfriend?"

"Pepper is my wife. Is Darcy your girlfriend?"

"Probably."

"Wrong answer, she's not. She's some girl who's really pissed off at you who you probably kissed once and then got scared of."

"I don't like you when you're drunk."

"I only like you when you're drunk."

"Hah."

Loki, who was lying on the pool table, rolled over and looked over the side of it at Stark.

"Tell me the truth... not that I care... am I bad person?"

Tony sighed and stood up, staggering over to the bar again.

"Look, kid... the stark reality... hah... is... you're in the real world now. You can't just run around like a vigilante and play tough love with a girl and expect her to always be there. Take it from me, I've made that mistake time and time again. You actually have to show her that you give a shit, you know. Show her that even if she won't always be there, you will."

"Very deep."

"Shut up, I'm being serious. This is like that bullshit they show you in those teen movies about sneaking into their rooms at midnight and holding hands. We think it's cheesy crap made up to hit box office goals, they think it's reality."

_Sneaking into her room at night? _Loki though, _sounds creepy... but fun... _He rolled over to his other side to look at Stark again.

"I still can't believe Pepper was stupid enough to marry you."

"I still can't believe she was stupid enough not to leave me after day one."

_Sneak into her room... _Loki thought again. He couldn't help but let his signature grin spread across his face.

o

**A/N: Something tells me Loki is about to get himself in big trouble. **


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I had to go back and read this fanfic four times or so before I finally understood where I was going with it. I feel kind of like a dick for stopping it where I did. Oh well, you don't choose when you get sick :/**

**Things Left Unsaid**

**By: Thessaly Corgin (Corgin)**

**Chapter 13: **

o

Darcys room was boring, and as a result Loki was quickly becoming rather... bored. He'd arrived drunk as a skunk fifteen minutes prior when Darcy made her way to the bathroom for a shower. He had all hopes of scaring the living daylights out of her upon her return, but unfortunately his inebriated state had faded to a slight buzz and then away completely, as Darcy had already been in the damned room for a quarter of an hour.

He'd watched her from the window for a number of minutes as she painted her nails and leafed through some daft magazine, intrigued at how she could be so immersed in such a stupid piece of paper. He quickly ate his own thoughts, though, as only fifteen minutes later he found himself turning the same pages as he waited for her to finish. _Humans love their showers... _he thought to himself and he turned over yet _another _page of Tony Stark.

The room was small and girly, lined with oak bookshelves and a matching bedside table. Clothes were strewn all about the place, making it fairly obvious to Loki that Darcy wasn't expecting any guests. _She should always expect me..._ he thought to himself as he threw one of her bras towards her dresser. In a different state of mind he might have snapped his fingers and cleaned the place up. At last the bathroom door opened.

"Did you know..." he started as Darcy walked out, noting her shocked expression, as he motioned to the magazine in his hand, "That according to Pepper Potts, the best way to lose weight is..."

"What are you doing here?" Darcy snapped, smacking the magazine out of Loki's hand while still managing to hold up her towel. There wasn't a single inch of mirth in her eyes - she was angry. Loki sat up from his resting spot on the bed, feigning offense.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that my presence was so unbelievably upsetting. It's Christmas Eve, I thought I would just come and give you a present."

Darcy went over to her wardrobe and started pulling out clothing, speaking without looking at Loki.

"And what would the present be? Oh wait - let me guess. You. You're the gift. You though that you would come over and grace me with your presence. Am I right?"

Loki frowned. He actually had a bracelet for her, but rolled with it. "You're right!" He responded with enthusiasm.

"You're an arrogant fuck. There's no one I'd like to see less right now - and you're in a good mood and it's pissing me off even more. Get out of my room and let me enjoy Christmas with my family."

_Family. _Loki hated the word.

"Can we just talk? I came all the way here and I thought that we could go over how-"

"No. When will you understand? You've been screwing up my life for months now, and I need to get it back on track. You're used to getting everything you want, and someone has to say no once in a while or nothing will ever change."

"I don't want to hear no from you."

"Well you need to hear it from someone who cares about you or it will mean nothing at all. Get out."

There was a ruffle of sheets and a change in the air of the room - he was gone.

o

He was wrong. _Wrong. _And he knew he was wrong. He went into the room knowing that he was a villain, intending to confess to Darcy how sorry he was, how wrong he had been... how much pain he had been through. He wanted to tell her that every time he closed his eyes to sleep he saw red glowing pupils and felt a familiar shiver up his spine. He wanted to tell her that when someone grabbed his shoulder, patted him on the back, embraced him, he just felt the cold, cruel hands of the Frost Giants. When he opened his mouth to tell her, the only things that came pouring out were snarky responses and arrogant lies - the painful but necessary truths were the things left unsaid. More than ever he just wanted to ask her her to have him back. No arrogance, no expectation, just desperation: he wanted his best friend back.

He saw the light of Darcys room flicker out - he'd been waiting outside for hours. It was always worth trying one more time.

o

The room was dark but he could see everything perfectly. The curtains fluttered slightly as he appeared, no doubt informing Darcy that he was there - she knew his ways too well to ignore such a sign. He sat down on the floor by her bed, leaning against the wall and stretching out his legs. He heard her roll over in the bed.

"Don't say anything."

He said slowly, his tone not harsh or commanding, simply pleading. Darcy said nothing.

"And note how difficult this is for me. You know me well enough."

Darcy again said nothing. A few moments passed.

"I get what I want, I'm born to be a king. Men, women - they do what I want. To me, everyone was made to be commanded, everyone was made to hang on to every little tiny word I might happen to bless them with. But not you. You're a stubborn little feminist with half a degree in politics and you've still managed to leave me absolutely speechless. I have no words left that you're willing to hang on to."

He paused for a few seconds to listen to her breathing, and make sure that she wasn't asleep. She wasn't.

"But maybe you can hang on to these: you're infuriating, intriguing and undeniably attractive. You know nothing but you seem to know everything about the whole world whenever I compare you to myself. You're fun, you're annoying, you make me ask questions. Life without you wouldn't quite be the same. It hasn't been the same."

"What are you here for?"

She asked, looking over the edge of the bed at him. He could see in her eyes that she was already going to forgive him. One thing he could always rely on was pure human loneliness.

"I'm asking you to take me back, be patient, and give me some time to answer all of your questions. My mind isn't quite what it used to be."

Darcy looked as if she was considering something.

"You smell like gin. Expensive gin."

"I'm not drunk."

"I didn't think you were. I just felt like saying something."

"Oh."

Loki couldn't tell if Darcy knew he was staring back at her in the dark. She wasn't wearing her glasses, so he assumed she couldn't see anything beyond his shape.

"Are you going to kiss me?"

She asked after a long silence. The question alone made Loki feel as if his hands had set on fire. He began to stutter.

"I-I suppose, I didn't really.. really consider that you might-"

"Shut up and kiss me."

He felt her hand snake down to his arm as she led him off of the floor and onto the bed. He still had absolutely no idea what he was doing, but he was so desperate for her that he didn't care.

o

**A/N: Oh god, of course there's a follow up chapter to this. I was just so disappointed in it that I decided to cut the second half of this chapter, re-write it in a few days, and hopefully not deliver you second rate smut. Don't hate me! -Corgin**


	14. Epilogue

**Things Left Unsaid**

**By: Thessaly Corgin**

**Epilogue: Dust and Cigarette Ash **

o

It was the longest month of her life. Words kept tumbling over and over again in her head:

"I won't leave you."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm course I'm staying, go to sleep, dear."

"We'll be back at work soon, just like before."

Right after she got back to New Mexico, Agent Coulston had shut them down, taking Erik Selvig and ordering them all to pack their things and go back to whatever they had done prior to S.H.I.E.L.D. Loki had left her that Christmas Eve with a kiss on the cheek and a sly grin that told her that he was panning something - but he would come back some day.

As she stood outside the facility waiting for her taxi, it occurred to Darcy that nothing had ever felt as lonely as watching the winter winds kick up a combination of dust and cigarette ash, blowing all of her hurt and confusion back through her head. Her hair danced in the gusts as she wrestled her bags into the taxi, her sweater getting caught on the handle of the door and her glasses falling off her nose and onto the seat. As she pulled away from the desolate building she finally realized that the empty place in her heart existed because she just kept scanning the roof tops with her eyes, looking for a man who might not have ever even been there at all.

o

A/N: FEAR NOT, DEAR READERS. This abrupt end is actually a GOOD thing because the sequel is now being posted in the AVENGERS section with the same relationship and a new exciting continuation beyond what happens in the Avengers! So once you see the movie, you can continue reading the happy fun adventures of Darcy and Loki in "Murmurs on Heartstrings".

I love you all, thank you so much for reading even if you don't continue :)


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